As the Mau evictions debate continue to heat up, the issue will ultimately have political beneficiaries as well as losers.
ODM leader Raila Odinga can ascertain to this as the same issue was used against him in the run-up to 2013 General Elections by the UhuRuto duo who accused him of evicting people 'inhumanely' from the forest complex when he was Prime Minister.
However, as the matter continues to be politicised and ethnicised, one can only expect the political consequences to be dire to the 'political victim'.
Unfortunately, this victim is none other than DP William Ruto. The same 'wembe' he used to shave Raila clean in 2013 has now landed on his head and shaving is a must! Here is why.
Ruto is under siege: The reason why Ruto has not yet come out to comment on the evictions opting to leave it to his 'attack dogs' like Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, is because he cannot oppose the government where he is the second in command. He is yet to openly support or criticize the process openly. And he won't.
Efforts to implicate Raila have failed: When the evictions began, Murkomen and company had tried to drive the narrative that the evictions were being perpetuated by 'some people who got to government through the window' (Raila) and 'wakora' from another place.
However, when Murkomen realised that the narrative had boomeranged on his face, he openly apologized to Uhuru and Raila on local TV on Sunday saying that he never meant that either of the two was behind the evictions.
Ruto's position in government: Already rumours have started to fly around that Ruto is actually the one behind the evictions which his political nemesis like Senator Gideon Moi have already feast on, condemning the 'inhumane' way the evictions are being carried out.
And even if Ruto is absolved from this accusation, the question will be, where was he when the evictions were taking place? And couldn't he have used his powerful position to influence the so-called government policy on Mau?
In short, unless the evictions are stopped, Ruto will bear the biggest political cost. Or do you expect a general whose footsoldiers have retreated and called for a truce to win the battle?
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