President William Ruto’s unlikely allies are now defending his policies amid a barrage of attacks from members of the public. The opposition, which was co-opted into the Cabinet, has become President Ruto’s new defence squad as it seeks to overturn the public’s discontent that has risen owing to the government’s unfavourable policies.

Cabinet Secretaries Ali Hassan Joho (Mining & Blue Economy), John Mbadi (National Treasury and Economic Planning), and Suna East Member of Parliament Junet Mohamed, who is also the National Assembly Minority Leader, have now taken over the task of explaining government policies to Kenyans.

CS Joho, the former Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) deputy party leader and former Mombasa governor who once termed Dr. Ruto as “Kenya’s most corrupt leader”, is now one of the President’s most vocal defenders following his appointment to the Cabinet.   

On December 2, while making his remarks when he accompanied President Ruto during the groundbreaking for construction of the KES 11 billion Devki Iron Ore Processing Plant at Manga in Taita Taveta county, Joho threatened to confront bloggers who occupy social media platforms to criticise the government.

“A country cannot be built through the internet. It cannot be built by people whose work revolves around X, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Let me put them on notice. We can also talk; if they bring us trouble, we can also bring equal trouble,” Joho said.

His Cabinet counterpart, Mbadi, has defended the government for backing botched Adani Group deals. Last week, the National Treasury CS maintained that President Ruto and Raila Odinga were right to have greenlit Adani Group’s multi-billion shilling deals.

The CS maintained that President Ruto should be applauded for cancelling the deals after new information on the Group’s suspected bribery transactions came to light. Mbadi insisted that the government was never aware of the Adani Group’s bribery deals until the United States (US) government exposed them.

“Now that there is a special investigation by the US government and they discovered that there was bribery, the best action for any responsible government is to terminate any other dealings with such an entity,” said CS Mbadi.

Additionally, last weekend, while addressing both ODM and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) supporters in Homa Bay, CS Mbadi emphasised that the Luo community should recognise and appreciate President Ruto’s leadership, highlighting that the Head of State has shown commitment to addressing the needs of all ethnic groups.

The Treasury CS stated that unity with the Kenya Kwanza government would be in the best interest of the community and the country at large and encouraged Kenyans to set aside political differences and focus on collective progress.

Additionally, MP Junet Mohamed has stirred debate by suggesting that the government should eliminate public participation in development projects, arguing that the process is creating unnecessary bottlenecks and delaying the government’s agenda.

Mohamed criticised the existing framework, which mandates consultation with stakeholders such as citizens, civil society, and religious institutions before rolling out projects.

“Serikali inachaguliwa ndio ilete maendeleo kwa nchi…lakini kama serikali ikitaka kufanya kazi yake inawekewa vikwazo, hii mambo ya kuomba ruhusa kwa kila mtu lazima ikwishe. Serikali haiwezi omba ruhusa mahakama and kanisa eti ndio waweke stima (The government is elected to bring development to the country. Requesting permission from everyone must stop. The government cannot ask for permission from the court and the church so that it can install electricity),” she said in Taita Taveta while accompanying President Ruto.

The MP remains bullish, indicating that Kenyans cannot dictate Dr. Ruto’s style of politics.

Since the formation of a broad-based government, ODM has been closely working with the government. In October, party MPs teamed up with their Kenya Kwanza counterparts to impeach former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua.

President Ruto and Odinga’s partnership

President Ruto’s response to the Gen Z protests was to build a coalition of political elites and co-opt influential individuals. He reached out to his political opponent, Odinga, and this presented the ODM party leader with an opportunity to move his party to the centre of President Ruto’s administration and secure the chairmanship of the African Union Commission’s (AUC) backing.

In early July, Odinga signalled his willingness to shore up President Ruto’s administration by agreeing to participate in a National Multi-Sectoral Dialogue Forum established by the President to address the protests in the country.

The co-opting of senior ODM party officials into the Cabinet signalled the partnership, and in return, the President ensured that Odinga’s endorsement as the agreed East African region candidate for the AUC chairperson succeeded.

Still, in July, Odinga said he had given his blessing to President Ruto’s nomination of four ODM senior party officials to the Cabinet but insisted that the party was still in opposition.

“We have released the four officials to work with the government. Let it be known that we don’t have an agreement with the government on anything. If they will help the government in running the country, then we cannot stop them,” said Odinga.

He added that the ODM party has not signed any formal working agreement with Kenya Kwanza and that his party is still a minority party meant to check the government. “The government has shown interest in working with our members, we released them to go and help run the country. ODM is still in opposition and a member of the Azimio la Umoja coalition.”

Odinga defended the new-found working relationship with President Ruto, insisting that it was the only way to quell rising tensions and bloody chaos that threatened to spiral out of control.