The outgoing Deputy President Dr. William Ruto was last Monday declared President-elect on a joint ticket with Hon. Rigathi Gachagua after they garnered 7, 176, 141 votes (50.49%) to beat Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua who managed 6, 942, 930 (48.85%).
Dr. Ruto and Rigathi ran on United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket while Odinga and Ms Karua vied on Azimio La Umoja One Kenya ticket. The President-elect secured at least 25% of the votes in 39 counties – 15 more than the 24 counties required by the law underlining the success of his campaign message which targeted Kenyans at the bottom of the pyramid.
Both Dr. Ruto and Gachagua who belong to the Kenya Kwanza Alliance managed succeeded to shift the narrative from ethnic balkanization to a contest between hustlers and dynasties through a campaign that aimed at fixing the economy and creating employment.
The hustler narrative was deep and many ordinary Kenyans related with it while Azimio outfit was stained by Jubilee’s poor performance in the second term, BBI which was seen as a burden to the electorate and KEMSA theft.
“This election was about issues, unlike the ethnic configurations that have characterized our elections. I am proud that the people of Kenya have raised the bar on us who are seeking leadership positions; not to sell ethnicity but our programmes,” Dr. Ruto said.
The Kenya Kwanza duo had also managed to make inroads and comb through regions formerly considered as Odinga strongholds including Western Kenya, Coast, Nairobi and sections of Nyanza region.
Azimio was lazy and relied on the overrated ‘system’, deep state and state machinery to propel them to presidency when their opponents carried out serious campaigns and watched over their votes.
The Odinga team even failed to deploy agents in many polling stations across the country to guard their vote.
The Azimio candidate also delayed to declare his candidature when Dr. Ruto who had been kicked out of the government by President Uhuru Kenyatta was selling his agenda, wooing voters and building a formidable team.
Odinga lost key affiliates including Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula to Dr. Ruto. He was carried away by crowds, got over excited but failed to turn them into votes.
He sidelined former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka who was his running mate in 2013 and 2017 polls for Martha Karua in attempts to pull a gender card which again did not attract votes.
But Odinga has disputed Dr. Ruto’s presidential win and has until promised to file a petition at the Supreme Court of Kenya to challenge the results.
