'Kufa makanga, kufa dereva': Kenyans angry at Ruto

 

The near-unanimous denunciation of President William Ruto’s administration during Friday’s public participation exercise in Nairobi must have been an eye-opener for the Head of State, eager to move on from the recent youth-led uprising that brought his government to its knees.

Nothing seems to be working for the Head of State. The health sector is collapsing and a controversial health insurance scheme is leaving Kenyans uneasy. Higher education is a mess, with an experimental funding model pushing access to a university education beyond the reach of many students from vulnerable backgrounds.

The controversy is spilled to a proposed takeover of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, which has been mostly kept secret by the government. The energy sector is not without its mishaps of frequent blackouts and a similar takeover.

While flour (unga) prices have stabilised in recent months, the general feeling is that the cost of living is still high. Unemployment is as prevalent as ever, with the government seeking unrealistic solutions such as exporting labour.

Amid all these, the political elite is detached from reality and is pushing issues that Kenyans say are of little concern to them, such as the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. Through that push, the masses seem to have seen an opportunity to get rid of both the President and his deputy and have adopted the clarion call Kufa makanga, kufa dereva.

There is also the proposed extension of the presidential term from five to seven years by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei.

The government’s aloofness was captured by many Kenyans during the public participation exercise. The remarks by Caroline Cheptoo, who called out politicians at the Bomas of Kenya, for instance, exemplify the despair among the citizenry.

“At least hata leo mmetukumbuka. Hamtuitangi hizi vitu, anyway. Leo mmekumbuka vijana na wananchi kwa sababu mna shida zenu (At least you have called us here today (Friday). You never call us to such places. You have remembered the youth and the citizenry because you have issues among yourselves),” she said in an emotional speech.

The President has made the case that the nationwide protests and growing discontent were mostly a product of misinformation and sponsorship by his detractors. With that assumption, he has largely swept the issues raised by Generation Z and millennial protesters under the carpet as a new partnership with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga offering him some calm after the June storm of demos.

Bringing Raila on board, through their broad-based arrangement, was the clearest indication that the Head of State did not intend to address demands by the youth. Raila was the political solution that would help fizzle out mounting dissent, or so it was thought.

More than three months since youth stormed Parliament, the strongest expression of the youth’s contempt for tone-deaf lawmakers, the country is in as much the same situation. The masses are as angry as they were then. Their message is the same: Ruto, and his entire administration, must go.

“Ruto promised good governance and delivered the opposite,” noted Francis Owakah, who teaches philosophy at the University of Nairobi.

University don Gitile Naituli also said the President underdelivered on his promises.

“The problem is that they have no idea that Kenyans think that they have not done much,” said Prof Naituli.

When he fired almost his entire Cabinet, the Head of State was handed a clean slate. While the youth had consistently maintained that Ruto must resign, they were hopeful that the President would do right by them. The poaching of opposition politicians and the recycling of former Cabinet Secretaries, however, left a bitter taste in the mouths of many.

But how does a man with as much access to intelligence become so detached from reality?

Months ago, Gachagua said it was because National Intelligence Service Director General Noordin Haji was sleeping on the job, a matter that now features in the DP’s impeachment motion.

Naituli also believes the President is not getting the best advice.

“He has dishonest advisors. Some of those around him perhaps don’t want him to succeed and don’t tell him what the country feels about his government,” he said.

But Dr Owakah argues the problem was more about Ruto’s nature, saying he “advises his advisors on how to advise him.”

“Ruto thinks he is very bright. He has the Joseph Stalin kind of mindset. There is a joke going around town that if Ruto goes live on TV and says that his name is William Ruto, everyone will laugh because they will think he is lying.”

Saboti MP Caleb Amisi sought to summarise what he considers the problem with Ruto and his team.

“Kenyans are angry because of failure by the Kenya Kwanza government to fulfil any single promise, convoluted restructuring of education funding model, universal health coverage, and sale of parastatals like JKIA arbitrarily without public participation. The show off by Kenya Kwanza honchos who have amassed devilishly abnormal wealth in their short span in government is also making Kenyans angry and yearning to bring down Ruto from government,” the MP told The Standard.