Having Been Acquitted of Fraud Charges by a Kenyan Court, will William Ruto Return to the Cabinet?

Just a day after his "triumphant" return from the first ICC hearing of the Ocampo-Six case at The Hague, Ruto had reason to be even more genuinely euphoric. A Kenyan court cleared him of fraud charges that have haunted him for eight years. The charges had forced his suspension as minister and senior member of the cabinet some months ago.

The big question now is: will he return to the cabinet? Some argue that the return, like the suspension, will be automatic, given the provisions of the constitution.

Others insist that Prime Minister (PM) Raila Odinga will have something to do with it, given the provisions of the National Accord, and should block Ruto's return. Raila is the leader of ODM, the party to which Ruto nominally belongs still, despite his very public and continuous tussle with the PM. The reasoning here is that the law gives the PM the authority to make the decision, given the National Accord that underpins the coalition government headed by the President and the PM.

At a time, in any case, when a cabinet reshuffle is deemed both in Kenya and elsewhere to be overdue, it will be difficult for President Kibaki to effect changes on the ODM side of the cabinet without Raila's concurrence.

I think Raila has, should and will claim a say on this matter. But what kind of a say should we hear from him? Many, "friend and foe", I think, expect an emphatic no from him. It would not be consistent, however, and it would not be judicious -- above all, it would not be smart to say no, despite the very troubling circumstances of Ruto's acquittal. Let the appeal process, if any, deal with that.

My advice would be: Raila should welcome Ruto back to the cabinet with no conditionalities whatsoever. In fact, he should make those intentions crystal clear to the public even before the scheduling of his next formal consultation with President Kibaki on the matter of Ruto's return.

If, after that, Ruto continues to be as deeply mean-spirited and hateful toward Raila as he has been, let him be the one to have to explain why to the nation -- and, in particular, to his Rift Valley constituents.

And if, after September 2011, the ICC hearings force Ruto out of the cabinet once again, as per the constitution, let that be yet another pulsating dynamic.

ENDNOTE: I expect Ruto's exuberance to cool appreciably in the coming months, as the reality dawns on him that he will not be the presidential choice of the emergent G7 coalition of presidential aspirants and leading politicians -- let alone Kenya's President following the 2012 elections. At best, he can only hope to be Uhuru Kenyatta's running mate. As to how many Rift Valley votes he will be able to deliver, as a running mate, to Uhuru -- that remains a one billion shilling question.

Evidence of culpability adduced at The Hague between April and September 2011, and beyond, might yet stop the Uhuru-Ruto alliance in its tracks. It is hard to imagine that Uhuru has not begun to worry how long it will take for his alliance with Ruto to begin to sour, along the lines of the one between Raila and Ruto. And Ruto's supporters must surely be wondering about the assurances they can possibly have that an Uhuru-Ruto coalition will not be a repeat of the "mistreatment" that Raila's supporters believe he has endured since 2008 at the hands of President Kibaki and his kitchen cabinet.