Many adjectives have been used to describe the frosty relationship between ODM doyen Raila Odinga and DP William Ruto. Of the dominant inferences is that their differences are more of ideological than personal.
Life rarely listens to people's wishes and Ruto-Raila enmity was one of the life's undoings. Those of you who were alive and politically apprised between 2007 and 2010, the two operatives were close political buddies and confidantes.
After receiving a drubbing beating in the hands of KANU presidential candidate Daniel Moi in 1997 presidential race, Agwambo joined the ruling government and Nyayo made him the party's organizing secretary and Minister for Energy respectively.
In Raila's mind was a believe that the professor of politics was to endorse him in 2002 as his successor but since there is an ever widening gap between anticipations and reality, Moi fronted Uhuru Kenyatta as his successor.
Moi's unprecedented move of endorsing a political neonate instead of political veterans saw Baba leading a massive walkout out of 'Chama Cha Baba na Mama'. They sought asylum in Mwai Kibaki's abode and later on, they threw their gauntlets behind Kibaki. Moi's project received a rounded beating and just as that, the country had Baba Jimmy as the third president.
Under the Rainbow coalition, Mwai Kibaki, Raila, Martha Karua, George Saitoti, Joe Nyagah among other operatives had reached a consensus that once Kibaki secured victory, he would advocate for parliamentary constitutional reforms which would have foreseen creation of première's seat which was to be occupied by Raila Odinga. The group opinied that presidential powers were too much for a single individual to wield thus whittling them down was a decisive move.
Kibaki changed tune immediately he rose to power and down toned the call for constitutional reforms. Instead, he allocated Agwambo a ministerial slot and this irked Baba. The veteran looked forward for a day he would teach him (Kibaki) unforgettable lesson.
The opportunity to teach Baba Jimmy a lesson finally presented itself in 2005. Kibaki was agitating for independence constitution and a draft was made dubbed Waki-Draft. To thwart that Mwai was advocating for, Raila hurriedly went to KANU and called the remnant lieutenants among them the fast-growing Rift Valley politician William Ruto, Sabatia MP Musalia Mudavadi, 2002 presidential Candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, Kalonzo Musyoka, Najib Balala among others.
He grouped them and placed them in their respective positions and the game began. After days, weeks and months of staging a spirited NO campaign against Kibaki-led YES team, Raila's team registered massive victory against Kibaki and this irked the later who disbanded the entire cabinet.
As Kibaki stomached the humiliations, the clock was vastly ticking towards 2007 general elections. The massive victory Raila had secured formed the basis of him leveraging the ground for his second presidential shot.
Political realignments took form and as expected during such a phase, Raila lost some of his anti-Waki lieutenants among them Uhuru Kenyatta to Kibaki. Ruto, Musalia ,Nyagah and Balala remained with Raila. After dramatic ODM party primaries, Raila was chosen as the Orange party flag bearer.
Ruto was placed in Rift Valley to spread ODM and Raila's gospel and this he successfully did. For the first and possibly the last time, Agwambo garnered massive votes beating Kibaki in the area, to him, this victory from this vast region was a great pull. Despite odds of him occupying the house on the hill looking probable, he lost to Kibaki but notably, Ruto stood with him to the bitter end.