Why William Ruto is angry with Kenyans

That President William Ruto is angry is evident. The Head of State appears increasingly frustrated by mounting public pressure to fulfill the promises he made during the campaign period — pledges many Kenyans now believe he has failed to deliver, and in some cases, has exaggerated the vices perpetuated by his predecessors.

Ruto rose to power by accusing his former boss, former President Uhuru Kenyatta, of orchestrating violence against Kenyans and his critics, deploying police brutality and extrajudicial killings.

He accused his boss of overburdening Kenyans through punitive tax hikes, claiming that the government, where he served as the second-in-command, had lost touch with ordinary Kenyans.

Restoring the economy — which he alleged had been crippled by Uhuru and his “handshake brother” Raila Odinga through incessant levies, particularly on fuel — became his rallying call. He pledged to create 100,000 jobs annually for ordinary Kenyans, who he referred as hustlers while branding himself as “Hustler 001.” 

In July 2022, Ruto warned that failure to tackle youth unemployment was a ticking time bomb. He promised to allocate Sh100 billion to address the crisis if elected President.

“Youth employment opportunities will be my top priority because issues affecting the youth must be addressed before politicians start talking about sharing positions,” he said. “These youths are our children. We’ve taken them to school, they have diplomas and degrees. If we don’t plan for their employment, we’ll lose them to alcohol, crime and depression.” 

While castigating the handshake government, Ruto hit out at Raila, saying that he was too focused on creating and sharing positions in government, but he will have to wait until he turns the economy around and changes the lives of youths.

"Those I'm competing against say they want to change the constitution, add more powers to the presidency and add more leadership positions," he said in Embu.

But today the President claims youth unemployment has not started with his administration and has on numerous occasions reminded Kenyans that the problem also existed during Uhuru and Kibaki’s reign.

While campaigning for Presidency, Ruto talked against the extrajudicial and summary executions and enforced disappearances perfected by the police over the years and vowed to disband the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI)'s Special Service Unit (SSU), which he associated with the extrajudicial killings.

He also promised to accord the police financial and operational autonomy to transfer accounting for the police to avoid cases where the Presidency weaponized State agencies against its critics.

While the President has implemented the financial autonomy, he is on record directing police to shoot protesters' legs, even as the Interior and Coordination Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen issued shoot-to-kill orders against protesters who go near the police stations.

Ruto  had told congregants in October 2022 at Kericho Green Stadium in Kericho County during an interdenominational prayer service."The country was very insecure. The police changed and became killers instead of protectors of ordinary Kenyans. I have ordered the disbandment of a Special Police unit that was killing Kenyans arbitrarily. We will change this country for the better." 

Critics say failure to set up a commission of inquiry into state capture under his predecessor, as promised during campaigns, invalidated  Ruto’s commitment to the fight against corruption.

 On tax increments, Ruto accused Uhuru of orchestrating a tax increment to choke Kenyans, claiming he had a disconnect with the very people who woke early to vote for him.

“These people don’t understand the damage to the people and the economy of Kenya from the taxes they are increasing daily. We shall form a government that understands the language of ordinary people,” Ruto said.

On over-borrowing, Ruto claimed he could hire a team of economic experts who would guide and stabilize the economy, which he claimed was in ruins thanks to Uhuru and Raila.

 When he was not running the government, Ruto criticized the excessive borrowing saying it was crippling the economy and complicating life for Kenyans.

“I think you have all heard that as of today, even the unborn babies owe our lenders,” Ruto said as he attributed the rising public debt to a battered economy that was riddled with joblessness and a poor population.

 “When everyone is empowered, citizens are able to pay taxes and the government will have enough revenue. We will not resort to lenders like China to extend loans to us. These loans we have acquired are bringing us bad luck. The only way to end this indebtedness is to enable citizens in the villages to do lucrative businesses.”

Despite his assertions, Ruto’s administration has been accused of borrowing more than Uhuru’s government, as the debt has soared to Sh11.36 trillion

He loathed the coming together of Uhuru and Raila so much that he described Uhuru’s administration as a mongrel type of government citing Uhuru as a squatter in the opposition party, running an administration that is a ‘mongrel of a government system’.

“Today, the leader of the opposition is a project of the system and the deep state of government. The leader of what is supposed to be the ruling party is a squatter in the opposition party and because of that we believe we must build our politics behind institutions and not individuals,” said Ruto during his opening remarks at the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Ruto has since incorporated Raila into his administration and offered five cabinet positions to ODM party and members.

According to Prof Macharia Munene, Ruto was angry because his policies did not work and because of the emergence of the new generation that was demanding accountability from him.

“He has not been in a position to respond to issues on why his policies have not worked and he doesn’t know his policies are wrong, he should just let people know why his campaign promises are not working,” Prof Macharia said.

While he maintained that the many campaign promises Ruto made were just campaign slogans, Prof Macharia maintained that there was no evidence of Ruto’s efforts to implement the realistic pledges and noted that there were many contradictions on what he pledged and what he was delivering to Kenyans.

“He assured Kenyans that he would reduce taxes, but he has gone ahead to overburden Kenyans. He is also having a problem with listening and being realistic on what is happening on the ground, and that is he is getting angry with Kenyans,” he said.

On his part, Policy researcher and political analyst Dr Kamau Wairuri said, Ruto needed to re-purpose his campaign pledges and go back to the crossroads so that he could deliver what is achievable.

“Like the proverbial phrase that you campaign in poetry, and govern in prose, Ruto must understand political campaigns often rely on inspirational language, idealism, and emotional appeal but governing requires practicality, clarity, and straightforwardness, but instead he has continued making more promises even after being elected,” he said.