Protests offer Ruto great chance for a reset

The people have spoken loud and clear.

The simple message is that William Ruto’s mandate as President was to overhaul 60 years of a broken system that was characterised by arrogant and completely tone-deaf politicians, self-absorbed leaders obsessed with accumulation of wealth, ostentatious wealth displays amid grinding poverty and want, and most critically, leadership that had suppressed the agenda of the common man since independence.

Ruto’s “bottom-up” approach for economic transformation deeply resonated with a populace that was completely marginalised economically. The hustlers, mama mbogas, boda boda riders and others struggling at the bottom of the pyramid, harkened to this call, and the momentum propelled him to the presidency despite having the entire state machinery arrayed against him.

But once in office, the President and his top leaders and allies forgot all that, and lapsed back into the bad old ways that they had been given a mandate to come dismantle. The climax of this complete insensitivity was the Finance Bill 2024 that sought to impose an impossible tax burden on Kenyans who are suffering under a comatose economy. The anti-tax protests of the last two weeks led by young people, Gen Z, rudely interrupted this party.

Kenyans have said they would no longer accept self-absorbed and self-serving politicians to go back to the discredited bad manners.

To his credit, the President quickly realised the grand rebuke of his leadership, and withdrew the finance bill. The Government will have to work with the Finance Act 2023, itself passed against major protests by Kenyans, until the issue of the new budget is resolved. 

This will come with some drastic rightsizing of expenditure. The very first indication as to whether the President has learnt anything will come from which expenditures he drops. All wastage and discretionary expenditure must go. Money must be channelled to activities that rejuvenate the economy and create jobs.

The events of the last two weeks have given the President a great opportunity to reset Kenya. He should grab it with both hands. He has enough advisers and stakeholders to craft a roadmap to that reset, based on the original platform he articulated when he was campaigning for President.

In this brave new world, there is no room for the brazen display of conspicuous consumption by people paid from the public purse, no room for endless foreign travel and endless conferences and seminars, no room for incompetent and arrogant Cabinet secretaries and top public officials, no room for endless politicking from the roofs of vehicles.

The Government must be seen to be caring and sensitive. The demolitions in Athi River and low-income neighbourhoods in Nairobi after the floods must never happen again. Shift people, resettle them, then demolish. A listening, caring Government is what people are looking for.

As for Gen Z, you are about to lose all the major gains of the last two weeks.  Being leaderless is not an attribute, it is a huge disadvantage. Leaderless means rudderless or aimless. That is why the ranks of Gen Z have been completely infiltrated, and they have completely lost control of the agenda. Violence and looting have lost them huge public support.

They reject speaking to anybody, and are talking down to everybody. This is the same arrogance and disdain they are accusing the Government of. They need to take a step back, and re-evaluate how they can move forward in a more structured manner. Otherwise they risk their power dissipating from sheer aimlessness.

It’s now urgent that the Government settle down to work. The focus must be on reviving the economy and putting money in the pockets of Kenyans. Allies of the President who have demonstrated shocking disdain for Kenyans will have to be dropped. He needs to act fast and decisively to rejuvenate the legitimacy and credibility of his Government. He should not lose this chance.