Why US, UK Trusts Ruto More Than Raila – Experts

Former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, blamed the Independence Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the Judiciary and foreign powers for his election loss. Raila claimed that foreign powers feared he would tame the market monopolies they dominated. He later alleged that President William Ruto was raising money to pay back the foreign power brokers, allegations that have never been substantiated. Lawyer and governance expert Javas Bigambo revived the discussions on Saturday, December 10, alleging that the West has never trusted Raila Odinga. instead, they see an ally in President William Ruto.Bigambo, while speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, further revealed that Ruto’s policies are embraced by the West, citing the government’s recent dalliance with Bretton Woods Institutions (The World Bank and International Monetary Fund).

“The IMF and the World Bank are institutions primarily sponsored by the West, and their structural adjustment policies date back to the 1990s during the late president Moi’s regime and funding of programs such as the HIV/AIDS.

“Looking after Ruto’s visit to the West, policies such as financing of budget deficits, and conditional scaling of the NSSF contributions took prominence in his administration’s budding days,” he opined.

Bigambo further intimated that Odinga’s policies have always resembled the former Soviet Union regimes, which were socially leaning politically.

“To contextualize this, you need to look at Jaramogi Oginga’s politics that centred around soviet undertakings. He was aligned with the union that even brought about the construction of the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu,” he remarked.

Bigambo alluded that western countries were wary of Odingas politics of socialism in the Soviet era, thoughts that are a departure from the west ideals.

He intimated that German companies were given prominence in state projects during the Grand Coalition government, but that changed immediately after former President Uhuru Kenyatta took over, aligning with the Chinese.

“His close association with German companies was prominent with the majority being given government projects and initiatives to undertake until when there was a change of guard,” he stated.

“During the just concluded elections, Odinga is quoted as saying that the West influenced the outcome of the presidential election in Kenya,” Bigambo underlined, citing the basis of his political analysis.

Raila’s tribulations, he argued, should be looked into the context of a man who has sacrificed a lot but has not achieved his main aim of being president.

“If the West was his ally, then during the 2008 Grand Coalition talks, they should have reigned in on the Kofi Annan-led process to have Raila run the government, but it did not happen,” he debunked.

The governance expert read differently from Odinga’s recent visit to the United States. US President Joe Biden invited Raila to a high-level meeting with other African leaders.

“Is it possible that the issue of the visit is to contain him? Because his proposed public consultations were going to be disruptive especially when the West embraced Ruto,” he noted.

Political Analyst Martin Andati concurred with Bigambo, stating that during the late presidents Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure, their governments openly declared their association with the East (China).

“Raila only got support from the West in 2013, because of Uhuru’s stance of ‘going East’ but now the West fully supports Ruto and you can easily tell with the recent relationship the current government has with the IMF and the World Bank,” Andati opined.

After his inauguration on Tuesday, September 13, Ruto met US ambassador Meg Whitman and other American delegates eight times in 26 days. Analysts argued that the US was hell-bent on ensuring Ruto was aligned with US ideologies.