President William Ruto has become the subject of parody over his failed promises. Bloggers have been moving around the country mocking him over unfulfilled pledges, revolving around the launch of “development projects.”

The presidency has developed a tendency of inaugurating structures that never take off, only for Ruto to return to the same grounds for a relaunch.

His habit of deploying false data to advance his agenda has been found to be alien to the truth by fact-checkers. These range from claims of cash allocations to projects, jobs created or families supplied with electricity and houses built through his much-touted affordable housing scheme. Some of them touch on false cash disbursal to schools, counties and infrastructure for hospitals.

It has always been argued that the Kenya Kwanza administration lied itself into power. A high number of its prominent members lie brazenly and with abandon, with good cheer from their supporters. The unfortunate outcome is that the government and the presidency have inculcated a culture of lies that smacks of disdain for smart-thinking, hardworking Kenyans committed to truth and decency. Liars, thieves and ne’er-do-wells around the presidency have been marketed as role models to young people who have come out to protest against bad government.

Members of the Gen Z, who are largely inclined to science, facts and truth, have left the President with egg on his face for his habit of using the rooftops of his taxpayer-fuelled cars and church pulpits to spew lies with glee. As one journalist put it to him in a widely televised interview, Kenyans no longer “associated President Ruto with the truth”.

Kenyans should be alarmed that despite constant reminders that the President was lying to Kenyans, he continues to do so unperturbed. And some of his lies have proven costs.

Take the case of his pledge about the rebuilding of the Nithi killer bridge. While campaigning for State House, he vowed to prioritise rebuilding the structure, which has been the site of numerous fatal accidents, as he assured residents that fixing it would be a top priority within the first six months of his presidency.

On Saturday evening, the President’s empty promise over the road returned to haunt him when 12 people were killed in a road crash at the bridge. This is bad politics that deny his office the honour the Constitution demands around his conduct and execution of its mandate.