Kenyans put their president on notice over broken campaign promises, corruption and violence

NAIROBI Kenya AP Kenyans disaffected with President William Ruto hold placards proclaiming WANTAM a sensational slogan distilling their efforts to disgrace him as a one-term leader They stick their index fingers in the air saying Ruto must vacate the presidency when his term expires in For others who want him gone only three years after he was elected even that s a long time Kenya s fifth president became a remarkably unpopular leader barely two years into his presidency after proposing aggressive tax measures that plenty of saw as a betrayal of his campaign promise to aid working-class people Ruto declared new taxes were necessary to keep the governing body running Protests intensify Ruto survived the tax-protest movement last year as thousands of young people took to the streets in an unsuccessful attempt to force his resignation In the bulk violent occurrence that left at least people dead protesters sacked and attempted to burn the parliamentary building in the capital Nairobi Ruto noted that would never happen again Ruto now faces a new wave of protests provoked most of just now by the death of a blogger in police custody A great number of Kenyans saw the circumstance as symptomatic of bad rule in Kenya with the president firmly in control of the legislature and safeguard apparatus He has control of the institutions but he doesn t have control of the people commented Karuti Kanyinga an analyst and professor of growth studies at the University of Nairobi He noted Ruto suffers such a low level of inhabitants confidence that he is maybe the majority of hated man in Kenya Ruto likely will stay in power until but violence will continue to deepen as young people opposition politicians and others try to make an example of him in an escalating campaign to adjustment Kenya s administration Kanyinga warned Population discontent Protesters say they want to rid the administration of corruption marked by theft of society support and the seemingly extravagant lifestyles of politicians Particular disparage Ruto as Zakayo referring to the biblical tax collector Zacchaeus and others call him mwizi Kiswahili for thief The demonstrators also are inflamed by what they see as incessant deal-making under Ruto who last year was forced to terminate an agreement worth an estimated billion that would have seen Kenya s main airport controlled by the Indian conglomerate Adani Group That deal which became citizens months after measure forces violently quelled anti-tax protests reignited citizens discontent and reinforced a view of Ruto as unrepentant and unwilling to listen to his people To a degree rare for an African leader Ruto constantly speaks about efforts to expand the tax base His negotiations for new debt with the International Monetary Fund have drawn criticism from those who say proposed reforms will hurt poor people while benefitting politicians and the business class Last year he narrated Harvard Business School s Class of that he wasn t going to preside over a bankrupt country Protesters are not feeling heard and there s a sense that things have not really changed since the protests last year mentioned Meron Elias an analyst in Kenya with the International Predicament Group There s a lot of grief and bitterness from last year s protest that is also feeding into current tensions Peter Kairu a -year-old participant agreed saying he didn t expect the cabinet to address issues of corruption and nepotism raised by the protesters Until we ourselves become the change we want he revealed Eileen Muga who is unemployed in Nairobi expressed safety concerns about disappearing the moment you say something about the administration After thousands of people marched in Nairobi last week to mark the anniversary of the previous year s anti-tax protests Ruto disclosed he was not going anywhere warning if there was no Kenya for him that also would be the event for others If we go this course we will not have a country he explained of the protest movement Yes and the country does not belong to William Ruto The country belongs to all of us And if there s no country for William Ruto there s no country for you The speech was characteristic of Ruto and underscored why various Kenyans are afraid of him even as they try to challenge him Kipchumba Murkomen Ruto s interior minister has also spoken forcefully against protesters saying they will be dealt with harshly A history of political maneuvering Years ago as Kenya s deputy president Ruto outmaneuvered his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta in a bad-tempered power struggle that the president lost Photos sometimes established Ruto glowering over Kenyatta The local press informed an case when Ruto was so angry with his boss that he felt he requested to slap him The two embodied a close almost brotherly relationship in their first term but swiftly fell out at the beginning of their second when Kenyatta tried to dismantle Ruto s sway over the official bureaucracy Ruto won the presidential electoral contest by a narrow margin defeating opposition leader Raila Odinga who had Kenyatta s backing Ruto has since co-opted Odinga drawing him close as a political ally but also eliminating a prospective rival in the next electoral contest Ruto fell out with his deputy Rigathi Gachagua within the first two years of the presidency In October legislators with the ruling party impeached Gachagua in a parliamentary process Ruto mentioned he had nothing to do with Gachagua insisted lawmakers were acting at Ruto s instigation Ruto did to Gachagua what Kenyatta chose not to do to Ruto and chosen saw Gachagua s removal as yet another sign that Ruto is intolerant and can t be trusted political analyst Macharia Munene stated When he ran for president Ruto positioned himself as an outsider and rallied for electoral help as the leader of a so-called hustler nation a campaign that he commented would economically empower ordinary Kenyans The strategy appealed to millions struggling with joblessness and inequality Informal traders voyager motorcyclists and realm women were often among his supporters Ruto also aligned himself with the evangelical Christian movement often seen carrying a Bible and preaching at pulpits After taking office Ruto spoke of an urgent need to make Kenya s debt sustainable The tax hikes in a controversial finance bill came months later He also removed the fuel subsidies that various Kenyans had come to take for granted I think it s a question of overpromising and underdelivering explained attorney Eric Nakhurenya a regime protocol analyst That s why Kenyans are angry Muhumuza published from Kampala Uganda Source