I thought William Ruto was the best student of the best teachers in politics- Daniel arap Moi and Raila Odinga. I thought he learnt from the best of the best from the best. I thought he had read Niccollo Machiavelli's 'The prince' and kept it by his bedside (alongside his bible). I was wrong. Today might mark the beggining of a 'siku mrefu' for William. Whatever outcome the Kericho's by election will be, one William Rutto will not be a man at ease, there is a rift in the rift.
I remember one day when we were young, we bought a young cockerel home. We had an old cockerel that had become sick. The young cockerel immediately assumed the old cock's conjugal duties. But the old cockerel never stopped doing one duty that kept us all in check-waking us up every 4:30 AM in the morning. The new cockerel crowing was erratic-sometimes he would crow at 2 AM or some days at 6:30 AM. The old cockerel backed down, retreated and only concentrated on nursing himself while the new entrant flossed flamboyantly with the hens. One day, the old cock decided to mount one of the hens. The young cock immediately lurched on him and alas, farm in the village witnessed a rare kind of a chicken world war. It was an all out war,a fight for control, a fight for pride, a fight for recognition, a fight for death. The old cock was fighting for his pride, he was fighting not to live and have the hens but to die with pride. He gave it all. When the dust and feathers settled, there was only one winner. The new entrant was disposed and chased to the end of our farm.
William did not borrow a leaf from RAO on how he has managed to keep a firm grip on Nyanza, from M.O. 1 on how he kept the rift in his pocket for almost ever. The ghost's and skeleton's of enemies he didnt finish have come to haunt and consume William. If he read the Prince, then he must have skipped this line-"If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared". William, my man, tuko na wewe mpaka mwisho but for today, I wish you luck, a lot of it, you deserve it. If you leave the south rift to drift, you are done, you would have dropped the pot at door, the ball at the try line. You would have left the house of Myoot to be devoured like vultures. The trappings of Kalenjin unity will be dispersed like barren seeds over the land, from plains of Kibomet, Ziwa to highlands of Kosoiywa, Nandi hills to Litein and to the far ends of Silibwet, Bomet.
