Ruto faces Kenyans' fury in rare X Space meeting

President William Ruto engages on X space at State House, Nairobi. [PCS]

President William Ruto came face to face with the wrath of Kenyans, fielding unfiltered questions about his government's inadequacies and ills.

At an X Space meeting attended by over 100,000 Kenyans, the Head of State struggled to defend his administration's unpopular policies, even as he committed to reforming critical areas.

His presence was in honouring an invitation by the Generation Z and Millennial protesters, who rejected Dr Ruto's proposal to establish a task force to address issues relating to them.

There had been earlier calls to host parallel spaces, but none matched Ruto's forum, dubbed Engage the President.

The arena was not entirely unfamiliar to the President, who, as deputy president, preferred engaging directly with the masses on social media. However, several glitches stalled the meeting initially scheduled to start at 2 pm, taking off an hour later.

Ruto, who said he "understood the anger" of Kenyans, began by saying he would do what he was accused of failing at - listening. For two hours, he listened to sober questions and braved accusations and near-insults, even though he was later accused of dodging some of the questions.

The President was put to task over the Kenya Kwanza government's lack of empathy, broken promises, arrogance, disregard for constitutional rights and lack of accountability, among many other issues.

He responded that his administration has come through for Kenyans in distress, such as those affected by recent floods, it has kept promises, such as the hustler fund and the fertiliser subsidy, and that he was committed to upholding the rule of law, improving allocations for the Judiciary.

The elephant in the room was the recent police killings of more than 40 Kenyans during the anti-tax protests and arbitrary abductions that the government has defended as arrests. Ruto said he would ensure rogue police officers are apprehended and apologised for incidences of excesses.

"I regret your situation and apologise," he told the meeting's host, Kevin Monare (Osama Otero), who was abducted at the height of the protests, regretting the "horror" he experienced.

Ruto spoke an hour after he ceded to some demands by Generation Z and Millennial protesters, such as defunding the offices of the first and second ladies and that of the prime cabinet secretary's spouse.

Many Kenyans on social media felt their demands for accountability were still largely ignored, forcing out commitments from the Head of State to deal with police excesses and corruption.

"Mr President, the accountability from you is zero. Why do you laud the police when people are killed and abducted? The way the police have acted is not fit for democracy and you have the power to stop it," one of the attendees stated, challenging Ruto's attempt to pass the buck to the police, which the President had said made its choices independently.

"We need to hold the police accountable... but the president does not hold absolute power... I am ultimately responsible because I am president... anything outside the law is illegal and unprocedural. I will take it up and deal with it," responded the Commander-in-Chief, who also vowed action against a rogue police officer believed to have killed Rex Masai Kanyike and was caught on camera shooting a tear gas canister at journalists.

"I would want to get exact details and... we will apprehend him and deal with him according to the law," said Ruto, revealing he had tried to reach out to families of those killed in the protest.

He further promised to crack down on corruption within his government, saying he would fire officials charged with graft. He rejected the proposal to overhaul his Cabinet but said there would be changes.

"I know you have told me to wipe the slate clean but you are not in my position," said Ruto, arguing there were many considerations at play regarding sacking cabinet secretaries.

The President also said he is not a liar, arguing that such a narrative was propagated without evidence. He acknowledged the arrogance within his government, arguing that some of his allies may have "demonstrated arrogance inadvertently".

"Not everyone understands communication. Sometimes you say things you don't mean and it comes out very badly," he said about remarks by MPs Kimani Kuria (Molo) and Kimani Ichung'wah (Kikuyu) at the height of calls to have the Finance Bill, 2024, withdrawn.

He said he had spoken to Ichung'wah about his remarks, calling protesters Uber-riding and KFC-eating, and out of touch with their realities. "I called him and told him that this is not the way you engage the public," said the President.

And he would defend the unpopular Finance Bill as a "victim of falsehood and propaganda", saying it had interventions that would create jobs and make the country better. He justified other policies, such as the proposed Social Health Insurance Fund, also announcing plans to boost critical sectors of Kenya's economy.

Ruto also faced questions about the Executive's grip on Parliament, contradicting himself on the subject. On the one hand, Ruto asserted that the Legislature conducted its work independently. On the other, he would reveal his influence by saying he had appointed Members of Parliament to influential House positions. Among his "appointees" were Kuria and Ichung'wah.

Since he assumed office, Ruto has attracted concerns about interfering with Parliament. He often issues directives to his Kenya Kwanza allies, summoning them to State House and later parades them when communicating his policy decisions. That was the case when he announced concessions on the Finance Bill and its later withdrawal.