How William Ruto's campaign was similar to Roosevelt's

Newly sworn-in President William Ruto receives the Presidential Ceremonial Sword from outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta at the inauguration ceremony at Kasarani Stadium. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Sometimes in January 1930s, US President Herbert Hoover found himself in an unfamiliar position: He was about to lose his job. He found himself in the middle of desperate times - the Great Depression. The New York Stock Exchange bubble had burst violently on October 24, 1929, a day that came to be known as Black Thursday when the stock market suddenly fell 90 per cent from its 1929 peak. This crash wiped out nominal wealth, sending the US economy into a tailspin. Ripples from the crash spread across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, triggering wider financial crises. In 1931, the economic calamity hit all continents in full force.

Between 2019 and 2022, this similar combined political, economic and ecological atmosphere took place in Kenya amidst political campaigns. Ultimately, it seems destined that the winner had to be the person who directly addressed the pressing concerns and consequences of these conditions. William Ruto did it as Roosevelt did for Americans in 1930s. The two men's deeds and actions had a lot of similarities.