Truth and propaganda around William Ruto's tour of Nyanza

President William Ruto addresses Kondele residents in Kisumu County as he winded up his Four-day development inspection tour in Nyanza region. [PCS]

President William Ruto's travel to the West of Kenya this week - which came right after the endorsement of Raila Odinga by Kenya and other Eastern African countries as their official African Union Commission chairperson pick - was a sight to behold. The President was met on the streets by what looked like thousands of youths who welcomed him to Kisumu as he kicked off his tour of the region. Whether the large turnout was genuine or contrived may be questioned, but what cannot remain unquestioned is how so many youths were able to turn up on a Wednesday morning. Perhaps the unemployment problem in Kenya is worse than we thought.

Sentiments following this grand welcome of the President to Kisumu, however, seemed to focus solely on one thing: The conclusion that, by having so many young people turn up and celebrate the President, the liberation movement that was begun by the youths had been dealt a huge blow. Apparently, the young people of Nyanza had single-handedly betrayed the movement and simultaneously ensured that the Presidency was secured for Ruto in 2027 (some even argued that the turnout was so jarring as to secure a 2032 win as well). Never mind that the movement, up until this point, has claimed itself to be tribeless.

The obvious propaganda behind this sudden change of tune shall be addressed, but not before calling out the clear mathematical inconsistencies of this argument. If the Luo nation was so powerful as to clinch a Presidency three years in the future simply by showing up in one place, then Raila would have been President of this great nation over a decade ago, with subsequent wins thereafter. We must recall also that in the 2022 election, it was clear that the last place that President Ruto could rely on for a vote advantage was the Nyanza region. Indeed, anyone who historically has gone against Raila in an election has been guaranteed of a resounding loss in Nyanza, even though the votes from Nyanza in and of themselves can never be sufficient to guarantee a national win. But today, thanks to the latest handshake, we no longer await the deciding votes from Tharaka Nithi and other parts of Central Kenya that without fail communicate who the next President will be. The Luo vote is all Ruto needs.

More worrying, however, is the propaganda element. Last year, journalist John Kamau chronicled how the dichotomy of Railamania versus Railaphobia, which attaches itself to the country's perception of the Luo people, extends as far back as the Cold War era, when Raila's father was the prominent Odinga of the time. According to Kamau, these sentiments took root in the country thanks to the work of the CIA and MI6, who felt that their interests were best protected by having Kenyatta rather than Odinga in power. The phobia cultivated in the '70s has carried on to this day.

That Raila has, once again, betrayed the resistance in favour of a small token of power from the government is not an indictment of the community he hails from. Reactions to the rally last Tuesday have taken the form of asking that Nyanza receives civic education in order to prevent it from siding with the apparent enemy. However, what has become clear from the discourse is that political education is what is sorely needed and that this education must extend across the country. Only through political education can Kenyans of all ethnicities and classes understand the biases that they have against one another. It is also through political education that we will be able to identify propaganda as well as learn to unite for our cause and not to be swayed by the optics staged by the oppressive classes to break us apart.

Ultimately, if we are looking for a reason to vote for Ruto, let us not utilise the Luo nation as our scapegoat. In the same vein, the actions of one community cannot dictate how the whole country will behave come voting time, so let us stand in our truth and make independent choices without catastrophising about potential outcomes.

Ms Gitahi is an international journalist