It took the intervention of an American preacher for President William Ruto to offer a half-hearted apology to young, brave Kenyans who protested last year against bad governance, with some paying the ultimate price.

During the National Prayer Breakfast on May 28, 2025, guest speaker Rickey Bolden, an American preacher and leadership coach, urged Kenyan leaders to “rebuild relationships” with young people.

Reflecting on the day’s theme, “Rise and Rebuild”, Bolden made a pointed appeal.

“And one of the things I prayed for is I said, Lord, I pray the adults would apologise to our Gen Zs,” he said.  

“And I just want to suggest to you – when we are talking about relationships and we are talking about really rebuilding relationships, wouldn’t it be beautiful if leaders would stand up and say to our Gen Zs, ‘We had you arrested. And we knew that had to be traumatising. And we are sorry.”

He continued: “’We shut down the internet, and we know that that is your primary source of communication, and we are sorry. Now we want to bring you to the table so that you can have a voice because you are no longer a child. You are adults. We want to bring you to the table and hear your voice.”

He added: “They respect you, but they don’t feel respected.”

They’re dying to be loved. They’re dying to be respected. They’re dying to have a seat at the table,” Bolden said.

Bolden was alluding to the strained relationship between the President and Gen Z that resulted in deadly protests that claimed dozens of young lives, marking one of the darkest moments of the Ruto presidency.

Speaking after the preacher, Ruto offered a rambling apology to young Kenyans for the violence they faced during protests advocating for good governance and an end to corruption.

“Our children are a heritage given to us by God. To our children, if there is any misstep, we apologise, to our neighbours, if there is any misstep that we have done, you know, we want to build the relationship that will make our country great and take us forward,” he said.

Overture to neighbours

Ruto added: “And so, ladies and gentlemen, friends, our neighbours from Tanzania, if we have wronged you in any way, forgive us, our friends from Uganda, too. If there is anything that Kenyans have done that’s not right, we want to apologise.

However, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki struck a different tone, insisting that Gen Zs must learn to “respect authority and older people as they are wiser than them”.

“To our children, we must respect authority and also agree to be mentored and supported so that mutually, even as we respect them and apologise to them when they are wrong, they should equally respect older people because they are older and because they have learnt things from the college of life,” Kindiki said.  

“Even as we agree to respect our children, we respectively tell our children to realise that there is a role we play.”

Kindiki’s remarks came amid mounting pressure from the Opposition and civil society groups on the National Police Service, National Intelligence Service, and Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to arrest and prosecute officers implicated in killing protesters during last year’s youth-led anti-Finance Bill demonstrations.

Gen Z protesters have been demanding job creation, lower taxes, improved governance, and an end to corruption.

The President’s apology immediately attracted sharp criticism from opposition leaders and Kenyans online, with many questioning its sincerity.

Former Attorney General Justin Muturi said while the apology was timely, it should be followed immediately with justice for victims and families of those killed, maimed, tortured, abducted, detained, and disappeared.

“The problem with Dr Ruto is that he does mean what he says,” Muturi said.

“The apology should also take cognizance of the trauma experienced by those who were abducted, families who lost their loved ones and explicitly tell Kenyans who was responsible for the killings and abductions and the action taken against them.”  

Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka said Ruto’s apology alone was insufficient without government compensation for those killed, tortured, abducted, and wronged.

“As it is, it smacks of hypocrisy and looking for political sympathy. The President must first tell us who killed and abducted the youth perceived to be critical of the government and what measures he has initiated to ensure justice is done,” Kalonzo said.

The President’s apology came weeks after the BBC aired “Blood Parliament”, a documentary revealing the identity of security officials – a police officer and a KDF soldier – who directly shot at protesters at close range.

‘Divine intervention’

In a move likely to further infuriate Gen Zs, President Ruto defended his so-called broad-based government, stating it was divine intervention that brought him and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga together.

“God made it possible for us to build bridges between our political parties. We now have a broad-based government that brings more citizens into a unified ecosystem to plan and work together for the common good,” he said.

Ruto added: “It is in God’s perfect will and plan for us to live together in unity, across political divides, across our communities, across our religious divides. There is a dividend for unity, and that dividend is God’s blessing.”

After subduing the protests and joining hands with Raila to form a new government, there has been no love lost between Gen Zs and the ODM leader. Young people have accused him of hijacking their cause to create jobs and positions for his cronies in the Kenya Kwanza government.