Ruto's multiple problems and why they are not likely to fizzle out soon

President William Ruto addresses residents after the launch of the Sogoo-Melelo-Ololung’a Road, during a tour of Narok County, on May 7, 2025. [File, Standard]

William Samoei Ruto is a man in trouble because the people who narrowly elected him in August 2022 are very unhappy with his performance. To gain his margin of victory over Raila Odinga, with barely 200,000 votes, he had promised to be accountable but he has instead disappointed. That disappointment was most clear in the national commemoration of the 35th Saba Saba Day, combined with the Gen Z demonstrations over police brutality, bad economy, and seeming condoning of goons to destroy targeted property. Kenya’s combined opposition, with the noticeable absence of Dr Ruto ‘co-president’ Raila’s ODM, laid the blame for the bloodshed and destruction at Ruto’s feet.

The build-up to the disappointment had involved strategic mistakes which implied that policymakers had deficiency in strategic thinking. Subsequently, decisions tended to demoralise rather than to uplift citizens partly because explanations were not satisfactory. There was, for instance, the decision to deprive soldiers of their traditional lunches which made the government to appear not to care about the readiness and fitness of its soldiers. This sent the wrong signal to Kenya’s potential adversaries that our country is weak. Decision makers showed similar insensitivity by depriving thousands of Kenyans of opportunities to get good education at all levels, including accessing the universities. Such decisions did not make Ruto to look good despite efforts to divert attention from prevailing national misery.

The first such effort was by Mr Odinga who tried to undermine the demonstrations by calling for a rally at Kamkunji. He failed to convince his former colleagues that he had not betrayed the cause. Second, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Kenya to receive a CGH award from the President and to praise Ruto’s leadership in promoting regional peace. Kenyans hardly noticed Ki-moon’s presence as they paid attention to the chaos in the country.

Third, the most influential Rutocrat, Mr Farouk Kibet, and Jubilee nominated MP Sabina Wanjiru Chege, went campaigning for Ruto in Lamu and made sexually-loaded comments that raised socio-political eyebrows. Since no man goes ‘one round’, Sabina said, Ruto should go ‘two rounds’ as she called for ‘tutam’. Farouk talked of Sabina’s goodness in bed that would make a man oversleep. Fourth, was effort to blame the ‘Kikuyu’ for all the ills afflicting Kenya. This effort backfired as the hashtag “We are all Kikuyu” spread across the country. None of those developments could replace the public anger over the deterioration of public welfare.

With the four tactics failing, government officials appeared to contradict themselves or to confuse their purpose. Martha Karua baptised the Ruto-Raila ‘co-presidency’ as blood-based government because the police appeared to have obeyed Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen’s order to shoot people, knowing that they were protected. They killed over 30 Kenyans, including children in their homes. There were reports of police vehicles dropping ‘goons’ in selected places to destroy property or beat up people and the police dragged injured persons on the ground.

Public Service CS Geoffrey Ruku, ordered all workers to be at their stations despite police cordoning off places of work or regular transport not being available. There was also the issue of Ruto building a ‘Mega’ church to sit 8,000 people at the State House at a cost of Sh1.2 billion. When Ruto claimed he would use his own money, questions of grabbing State House land arose because private construction on public land is tantamount to grabbing.

Ruto’s tribulations are many in part because he was not ready for the presidency. Lack of readiness made him to rely on incompetent peoople to determine how to safeguard Kenya’s national interests. The results were policy disasters that made desperate people to confront a desperate regime. It would be difficult for Ruto to extricate himself from the mess he finds himself in.