Page 5 - THE RHINO Issue 001

PICTURE CREDITS // NATION
Together with Ahithophel, they hatched a plan to ambush David in the night, kill him and cause his army to surrender. But Hushai, who secretly worked for David dissuaded Absalom against this plan. Instead, he advised him to delay; to gather his army and then go on a campaign as a show of might to the people. It turned out to be a trap. A trap that al- lowed David time to regroup and mount a successful counter-attack. The story ends in misery for Absalom. Suspended in mid-air, Absalom is stabbed to death by Joab.
The parallels here, with the seeming ‘rise-and-rise’ of William Ruto over the 8 years of the Uhuru presidency are striking. In the first term, Ruto propagated the myth that Uhuru was lazy and incompetent. He never denied the rumour that ‘Ruto is the one running the country’. During the 2017 election, while Uhuru campaigned for the Presidency, Ruto raided his political back-yard in much the same way that Absalom did. He pitched camp in Central Kenya, successfully wooed the electorate and installed his preferred candidates in elective positions;
from Governors to Members of Parliament. And now he proudly boasts that
he has wrestled control of the Mt. Kenya electorate away from Uhuru Kenyatta. over a period of 4 years,
That he is with the people. And that the people will make him president. Here is a lesson for Ruto from the Absalom story.
Never bank on the people. The people only build you up to tear you down. The political elite will, as they always have, divide and conquer the ‘interchanga- bles’. But more important, when light is shed on the traits of ambition, self-ad- vancement, treachery and division, it is only a matter of time before truth and goodness prevail. For Ruto with the Absalom spirit, the clock is ticking.
in small installments where he undermined and chipped away at the credibility of the King, finally succeded.
SEPTEMBER ‘20
And so, the coup, carried out
04
ISSUE N. 001