Commentary By Leo Odera Omolo

The repeated claims by the Eldoret North MP William Samoei Ruto that the impending trials By the International Criminal Court of Justice at The Hague {ICC} against him and three other prominent Kenyans are just simple part of the conspiracy hatched by his political enemies to lock him out of the presidential race.

These claims have not so far been received well in many quarters and as such have become monotonous carrying shallow and hollow argument, which makes no sense nor any meaningful appeal in the minds of level minded Kenyan electorate. It is therefore prudent that the sooner Ruto changes his campaign tactics the better.

Kenyans knew pretty well who inserted Ruto’s name in a sealed envelope, and handed it to the ICC .This issue has been in the public domain for close to four years. The local media houses have done a wonderful job by serializing all the fact which led to he ICC impending trials,

I am particularly concerned with Ruto’s widely reported address to the students from the Maa communities during which the MP rubbished the ICC trials claiming they are just simplely part of the conspiracy hatched by his political enemies to ensure he was locked out of the forthcoming presidential race.

It is also worth mentioning that the Eldoret North Mp has been around the courts here in Kenya from time and again facing various allegations of illegal sell of land, land grabbing. He has, however, come out clean on some of the accusations.

It is therefore worth to note that it is only a couple of days after Ruto had made a pledge to return the IDP land, which he ha grabbed to its rightful owners. On top of these there are more pending cases against him in our local courts.

Surely, does he want to Kenyans to cast their presidential votes to a man who is facing one of the most heinous crimes against humanity? It makes no sense for someone who is a suspect in such serious crimes like murder, rape and other related offences against human rights to come forward seeking presidential votes before he I cleared of all the alleged crimes.

Ruto’s handlers should advice adequately telling him not to be in hurry. He is still a young man and Kenya is not just about to disappear from the map of the universe. The Republic of Kenya will still be around in 2017 and thereafter therefore he should be advised to get cleared by the ICC court first before laying a claim to the presidency.

The kind of chest thumping speeches delivered by Ruto during the so-called prayers meetings, which at times have become the political platform for the blame games gimmicks, I suspect could be the recipe for the recent bloody tribal flare ups along the Nyanza Rift Valley borders. These uncalled for tribal skirmishes have claimed the lives of six young Kenyans. And if the kind of speeches we are reading in the columns of newspapers and hearing on radio stations, and even at time viewing in TV news footage are not stopped, the Kenyans must be prepared to expect the worse come the next general elections.

In this context, I must take my hat off and heap a lot of praise to the two presidential aspirants, namely Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth and his counterpart Gichugu MP Madame Martha Karua.

I have been following the public utterance of the two legislators and I have detected a lot of political maturity and magnanimity in the way the two are canvassing for the presidential votes. Their approaches are devoid of malice and to me the two are truly the serious contenders for the job. Other presidential hopefuls should emulate Kenneth and Karua.

Karua recently toured the entire Nyanza Province during which her public pronouncements landed perfectly in the ears and the hearts of the electorate. She was dignified and talked to the electorate in a very mature manner that makes her one of the most highly respected in this region as a serious contender to the job. Despite having ventured into a territory which is the considered as the ODM stronghold, the residents gave hr a good hearing.

Peter Kenneth was recently in Kisii region the other day campaigning vigorously for his KNSC party candidate in the just concluded by elections in the Kitutu East constituency and left a mark on the ground as being one of the best and eloquent public speakers whose utterances carries no malice.

The two are the shinning example of the kind of modern political leadership the Kenyans want, and not the bunch of political demagogues thriving on hatred speeches, which might no contribute meaningful to the peaceful coexistence and development. We need those who can transform Kenya into a vibrant state in this region, which could be he envious of the neighboring countries.

Kenya is not a tribal fiefdom, but a country which is guided by the rule of law, which must remain paramount all the time. Any leader who is invoking tribal emotion as short cut to the presidency must be rejected by Kenyan voters in totality.

Ends