Businessman Zedekiah Bundotich Kiprop, famously known as Buzeki, has accused President William Ruto’s government of betraying ordinary Kenyans it promised to uplift during the 2022 electioneering period.

In a statement on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, Buzeki decried a shift in the government’s priorities after assuming power.

“They campaigned as the voice of the despised, the hustlers, the children of ‘nobodies,’ but once in power, they became the architects of their misery,” he stated.

This comes a few weeks after Buzeki stated that the government is shutting down many small businesses in the country.

In a statement on Saturday, May 31, 2025, Buzeki decried that President William Ruto’s administration is not refunding Value Added Tax (VAT) claims by businesses.

“UDA is obsessed with spending tax money and completely forgets the people/businesses whose tax money was squeezed from. UDA is not refunding VAT claims, and this is shutting down a lot of SMEs,” he stated.

During the 2022 general elections, the “hustler” narrative was widely used by the ruling party, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), during the campaigns.

During the campaigns, Ruto promised to focus economic relief programmes on the lower class and make the common person a major priority in his administration. 

Having come from humble beginnings, Ruto described himself as a hustler and promised to empower Kenyans at the bottom, knowing firsthand what it’s like to be at that level.

Other promises

Further, he promised to make the choice of religion free, stating that his administration would protect and defend the freedom of worship. He promised to lift the existing moratorium on registering new religious organisations.

He also promised to review the current formula Kenya uses to share its natural resources between its two levels of government based on the population of regional constituencies. This promise followed his announcement of plans to strengthen the intergovernmental institution by ensuring that government officials are held to a higher standard of responsibility.

Additionally, Ruto promised to implement a contributory benevolent fund for families of fallen or terminally ill soldiers, including those with mental illness. He pledged to design affordable housing mortgages for public officials, particularly the police.

He also mentioned that there would be insurance coverage for fallen police officers, the likes of which are afforded to the military. Finally, he promised to reform the security sector so that public officers would see no reason to demand bribes.