Ruto’s 37-day dilemma: To quit or stay as Uhuru deputy
Deputy President William Ruto has 37 days to resign from Jubilee Party and officially join the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) if he is to vie for the presidency on the new entity.
According to the recently amended Political Parties Act, 2021, Ruto must quit the ruling party by March 26 to make himself eligible to contest the August 9 General Election as a UDA candidate.
Section 30 of the Act says: “A political party shall, at least four months before a general election, submit to the Registrar a register of its members and a statement of its assets and liabilities in the prescribed form. Only certified members of the political party shall be allowed to participate in its nominations (primaries) and subsequently remain legible to be declared as bonafide candidates on the party’s ticket.”
However, constitutional experts and political pundits say Ruto must make a tough decision: To quit his position as the country’s second-in-command and concentrate on his campaigns or, like an estranged spouse not willing to vacate the marital house, continue holding his position and risk a political backlash.
However, Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu says the recently amended law has created “an unprecedented dilemma” on the issue since the Constitution is silent on whether Ruto can remain DP even after resigning from Jubilee Party that sponsored him to the position.
“The implications of him resigning as a Jubilee member to join UDA, the party that he intends to vie for the presidency on, may not be practical due to the existing gaps in the Constitution. The law is not specific on whether he should quit his position as well,” Nderitu told People Daily yesterday.
According to the Registrar, the Political Parties Act, 2021, requires that all aspirants for elective positions should be registered bona fide members of their preferred political parties in order to participate in the primaries which are scheduled for April 16.
Nderitu says registration of new party members shall end on March 26 to enable an audit of the register that would be used during the party primaries.
“The law requires that parties submit the list to my office at least 14 days before the day we are expected to hand it over to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Anybody who would not be in the list submitted by his party would be deemed not to be a member and, therefore, not legible to participate in its primaries or vie for any seat on it,” she said.
Contacted, Ruto loyalists Aden Duale (Garissa Township MP) and Nandi Senator Samson Cherargey insisted the Deputy President will serve his full term even if he leaves Jubilee to join UDA.
“We are going to follow the law to the letter. There is no clause in the Constitution that calls on the DP to resign should he change parties. Those thinking that he will bow to pressure should forget,” Duale said yesterday.
Gaps in constitution
Added Cherargey: “As far as we are concerned, the DP’s term comes to an end on August 9, 2022. We are not aware of any law requiring him to resign after joining a party of his choice.”
Lawyer Gad Awuonda, who was among the draftsmen engaged by the Committee of Experts that produced the 2010 Constitution, says the lacuna in the law over whether an individual can retain his position as a DP after resigning from the party that sponsored him to the Presidency is quite a delicate one that may require interpretation by the Supreme Court.
“Constitutionally, abandoning a party is not one of the grounds stipulated to remove a DP. But practically leaving a party on whose ticket one was elected to the Presidency is a serious matter. One cannot turn a blind eye to the reality since once one leaves a party, he or she has ceased his commitment to the ethos and manifesto of that particular party,” said Awuonda.
According to the lawyer, Ruto’s continued stay in the office of the Deputy President once he resigns as a Jubilee member to join UDA can only be interpreted as an intention to either sabotage the government from within or use government resources to further his political course.
“It is only out of dishonesty that one may want to remain in office after joining a different party. The DP will no longer be committed to the ideals being pursued by the Jubilee government yet he will be purporting to the President’s assistant,” he opines.
Internal sabotage
Added Awuonda: “The DP having been elected on Jubilee Party ticket cannot abandon the party and still want to stick around as the DP of the Republic. There are several risks that come with such a scenario, one of which is internal sabotage of the government. He will still have access to State facilities, and yes, power.”
The lawyer said that being a candidate competing against Jubilee in the next elections, it would only be “safer” for the DP to leave government since he would be using campaigns to actualise his claims that the Jubilee administration had failed.
But Prof Macharia Munene, a political analyst and a lecturer in interpretation relations and lawyer Bob Mkangi, who was a member of the Committee of Experts, said that though there is no law compelling the DP to relinquish his position, the onus to leave government or not remains with him.
“By leaving Jubilee and joining UDA does not mean that he loses his position. It depends on him to decide. In any case, it is a period of political realignments and IEBC cannot order a by-election in constituencies where MPs defect to other parties,” said Prof Munene.
On his part, Mkangi says though the ideal thing would have been for Ruto to resign from his position once he crosses from Jubilee, in this case there is nothing compelling him to do so as he is likely to follow the precedents set by MPs who have retained their seats despite defecting to new parties.
Since March 9, 2018, when President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled the famous Handshake with ODM leader Raila Odinga, Ruto has had a frosty relationship with his boss, who has on a number of occasions challenged him to quit government if he was dissatisfied.
Failed Kenyans
In what has characterised his forays across the country as he positions himself for August 9 General Election, Ruto has criticised the Uhuru administration, claiming it had failed Kenyans.
An offensive against Ruto’s allies both in Parliament and Jubilee Party by Uhuru since 2019 with the hope of breaking him down and thereby forcing him out seems not to have borne fruit, with the DP insisting that he is in government to stay as “they formed it jointly”.
And on Monday, in a bare-knuckle attack, Uhuru dared Ruto to resign from government instead of continuously accusing it of frustrating his ambitions.
“The honourable thing is that if you are not happy with it, step aside and allow those who want to move on to do so and take your agenda to the people. You can’t have your cake and eat it,” Uhuru said.
But in his characteristic defiant response, Ruto said he will not quit.
Last evening, UDA chairman Johnson Muthama said there is nothing in law that would warrant Ruto to quit his position even after resigning from Jubilee.
“There is no law stipulating that he should quit as DP. He is there to serve his full term and is going nowhere. Let all those shouting loudest know that he will be there till August and only transform from DP to president,” Muthama said.
