Ruto calls himself “Hustler-in-Chief”, a reference to his humble beginnings as a chicken seller in Kenya’s Rift Valley a heartbeat away from the most powerful office in the land. “I may be nobody’s child, but we want to make this everybody’s country,” Kenya’s vice president told CNN at his sprawling official residence in Nairobi’s wealthy Karen neighborhood. “We want to make this country a land of opportunity for every child in Kenya.” Odinga, who says he is running for the last time, has run unsuccessfully for president four times before and contested defeat in the last three elections. “I had considered not running this time, but there was a lot of pressure from my supporters to run because of what I stand for,” he told CNN, promising change if elected. “I have said that the aspirations and desires of the people of Kenya as expressed in the founding document of our nation, what you may call the Kenyan dream, have not been realised.” The two other candidates approved to vie for the presidency are Professor George Wajackoyah and David Mwaure Waihiga. Both are considered long shots and unlikely to win.
The support of the president
Kenyatta ditched Ruto’s deputy to support Odinga, became campaign chairman of his Azimio la Umoja (Aspiration for Unification) coalition and brought with him key figures from his powerful Kikuyu ethnic group. But Ruto assembled a formidable coalition of his own called Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First), attracted many leaders from Kenyatta’s court and built a broad national appeal with an oft-repeated rags-to-riches story. While he retains the title of Kenya’s vice president, Ruto lost most of his powers and responsibilities in 2018 when Kenyatta reconciled with his former rival Odinga, effectively neutralizing the opposition. A symbolic handshake with Odinga ended Kenyatta’s alliance with Ruto, a well-orchestrated union that had twice won them the presidency and destroyed crimes against humanity cases at the International Criminal Court. Ruto is a candidate for this betrayal as Kenyatta had repeatedly pledged to support his deputy when the president’s term ended.
“I have a plan, he doesn’t”
“There is a world of difference between me and my competitor. I have a plan, he doesn’t,” Ruto says of Odinga. He accuses the Odinga campaign of making blanket statements about Kenya’s massive debt, high cost of living and unemployment crisis without detail or clarity. “He’s a good old man, but I don’t think that today, he has the ability to pull this country from where it is. Kenya cannot afford to have a leader who is not practical, who does not know what he is doing or what is happening, who depends on other people to make decisions.” Both campaigns have accused the other of corruption, an intractable challenge for Kenya since it declared independence from Britain in 1963. More than $16 million is stolen from the government every day, Kenyatta claimed. Odinga calls the looted funds “budgeted corruption” and promises to close the corridors of corruption if he wins. “There’s a lot of robbery. When we deal with it, what we get in savings will be more than what we need to finance the projects we’re talking about,” the veteran politician nicknamed Baba told CNN. He has pledged to create social protection and a universal health care program called Babacare. A universal basic income for poor households and free college education are also part of his plans. “We are not going to make any compromises and nobody will be necessary, including myself in the fight against corruption, because if you do it effectively, there is no reason why this country cannot achieve its development goals,” says Odinga . Because of their relationship with Kenyatta, Odinga and Ruto must walk a tightrope between taking credit for his government’s achievements and promising to run the country better if elected. Ruto says their government was “invaded by the opposition” in the second term, derailing their agenda, while Odinga denies that a victory for him would be an unofficial third term for Kenyatta. The deputy president is highly critical of his boss and the administration he still serves in, while former prime minister Odinga mainly attacks Ruto. “Everything he is saying today is mere rhetoric — words — and we know there is no commitment or determination to deliver what he is promising the people of this country,” Odinga says of Ruto. The vice president is indifferent to any criticism and believes that the election has already been decided in his favor.
How will voting work?
To win, any candidate must win more than half of the votes cast in the election. Some observers say the result could be so close that it could send Kenya into the second round for the first time. Odinga and Ruto both told CNN they would accept the election result if they lost as long as the process was free and fair. The election results are expected to be announced by August 15. But both raised concerns about how the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had managed aspects of the process, warning it could affect confidence in the poll. After Kenya’s Supreme Court annulled the 2017 presidential election and indicted the IEBC, the commission has sought to be more transparent to increase confidence in the process. Kenya has an electronic voter register, but the actual voting and counting is done manually. The polls open nationwide at 6 am on August 9 and close at 5 pm. For its part, the IEBC says it has made minor technological changes this election season to restore confidence in the electoral system. The race is expected to be close with neither front-runner significantly ahead of the other. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the election will go to a second round for the first time in Kenya’s history.
