The rivalry between Deputy President William Ruto and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi has in the recent months escalated, to the extent that their rivalry has roped in President Uhuru Kenyatta who is a friend to the two rivals.
Kenyans.co.ke has, however, established that Moi and Ruto were not always the bitter rivals they currently are.
Prior to the 2002 elections, the DP was a close friend to President Daniel Arap Moi and owed the Mois ultimate political loyalty.
Having been elected unopposed, all the Kalenjin MPs, including Ruto, treated Gideon as their defacto leader, until a lunch incident that marked the beginning of the coup.
In a past interview with the Sunday Nation, an MP who served in parliament between 2003 and 2007, narrated details of a lunch meeting that marked Gideon’s fall from political glory.
“Soon after the 2003 elections, we urged Gideon to organise a lunch meeting with Kalenjin MPs so that he can be introduced to them. The meeting happened at Panari Hotel on Mombasa Road. It generally went well, but when it came to paying, Gideon said everyone would pay his bill,” the MP narrated.
“It was something that took us aback since we expected him not only to foot the bill but also send us off with ‘something small’,” he added.
It was then that Ruto, in his characteristic generosity and political suaveness, read the mood and sorted the bill.
A second meeting organised by the now Baringo Senator went down in the same manner with Ruto volunteering to pay the bill.
The local MPs, having been used to the generosity of the elder Moi (former president), begun to have doubts about Gideon.
“We knew Gideon was not his father’s son when it came to generosity. Most of us decided to throw our lot with Ruto after that,” the former MP recalled.
Unfortunately for him, Gideon had never thought that the current DP would ever replace him because of the respect and fear that Ruto had for the elder Moi.
It did not help matters that the younger Moi was completely detached from the ground, he reported to have difficulty conversing in Kalenjin and Swahili, so much so that the MPs had nicknamed him Beringo ya Keti – for his twisted pronunciation of his Baringo Central Constituency (Baringo ya Kati in Swahili).
On the other hand, the self–declared hustler had great political mobilisation skills, was extremely generous, and connected to the ordinary citizen owing to his humble roots.
The new order became apparent in the 2007 elections when Ruto supported ODM leader Raila Odinga while the Mois went with former President Daniel Moi.
The Mois lost badly, and to date, the battle to reclaim their lost political clout continues.
Only time will tell how it ends.
