The curse of the African VP and Bill Ruto of Kenya

The short and long of the matter is: the vice president or deputy president can only be a shadow of the president of a republic. I will share the testimony of Gen  Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s former ‘powerful’  vice president and minister for defence.

When vice president Paul Kagame visited the USA, (it is rumoured) he was accorded the reception of a visiting head of state. Some people in the US establishment didn’t approve of the protocol status accorded to the ‘vice president of a small African country’.

Later, the US president visited Rwanda. And what happened? The US president avoided the vice president of Rwanda as much as he could. Mr Pastuer Bizimungu, the president of the Republic of Rwanda, got a ride in the US president’s Air Force One to Entebbe (where a summit of regional leaders was due) and the ‘powerful vice president and minister for defence of Rwanda found himself in a rather clumsy situation.

After the US president’s visit, Gen Kagame must  have realised that however ‘powerful’ any vice president may be, the main man will always be the substantive president of the republic (recognised by the constitution and the international community). And the rest, as they say, is now history: Paul Kagame is now the president of the republic.
 
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I recently posted a video on my Facebook account where president Paul Kagame told a story which could be instructive to a certain Dr William Ruto of Kenya.

President Paul Kagame says that when he was still vice president, he went to Gitarama where he was introduced (name and position) to a cheerful audience. Not long after, he returned to the same place accompanied by then prime minister Celetin Rwigema (who asked if there was anyone in the audience who knew the name of the vice president standing in front of them). In unison, they responded in the affirmative with most of the people raising their hands to give what was ‘an obvious’ answer.

Prime minister Celetin Rwigema picked one jama  from the multitude of those who had raised their hands. The jama  answered: Poro Bizimungu. Wrong answer; the right answer was Paul (or at least Poro) Kagame. Lesson to Ruto: Vice presidents (even powerful ones) are not supposed to be known.
 
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Ruto is the deputy president of Kenya. He was recently blocked from leaving the country. This was wrong. Humiliating the second person in the order of precedence in state protocol is bad political business. No amount of spin will make it good for me.

Yet, I still blame Ruto for this unfortunate incident. Daktar Ruto clearly lacks on tact and strategic visioning. The VP should not articulate policy issues in the presence of the president. The VP should not act in a manner that makes him look smatter than the president.  Ruto has committed all those sins.

Dear deputy or vice presidents, the power and authority the President holds is so vast that he or she can even make the VP (or DP) position irrelevant. In Uganda, a senior politician is said to have declined appointment as vice president because he or she looked at it as a useless position.  

The vice presidency in Uganda is so obscure that some cynics always ran a monthly reminder on social media about the identity of the human person (still) holding the position. So, dear Dr Bill Ruto of Kenya, the VP position is cursed; only smarter humans succeed in casting the said curse away.  A vice president should always play humble in order to earn the endorsement of the president (and his or her inner circle entourage). Otherwise… 

Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]