Is William Ruto the most convenient Kenyan president in history?

Kenya’s William Ruto embarked on office of a wave of enthusiasm among ordinary people who hoped he would fulfill his promises to improve their lives. Instead, he faces a relentless criticism – regarded as incomparable in the history of the country.

Apparently disappointed with the intensity of the reverse reaction, he asked Wednesday why such public outrage was never directed to his predecessors, including Daniel Arap, who ruled an iron fist for more than two decades, marked by political repression and violations of human rights, and others who had deviated from the contradictions and others who had deviated from the contradictions and others who had deviated from the contradictions and others who had deviated from the contradictions of human rights.

On Wednesday, Ruto posed: “All this chaos, why was it not aimed at (former presidents), Maw Kibaki, Uhuru Kenya … why contempt and arrogance?”

Analysts describe the current wave of public anger to President Ruto, who has seen more than 100 people killed in the last year as “unprecedented”, uniting the Kenyans into ethnic, religious and class divisions.

Protests against his administration began only one year after he entered power. Three years later, many Kenyans now want it – against the backdrop of relentless protests with rally calls at Ruto should go and Ruto Wantam (Ruto for one term).

When Ruto fought for the Presidency, he presented himself as an ordinary person who came from childhood, marked by poverty and resilience. He turned to the ordinary people as a person they could get inspired by – rising from the seller of chicken to president.

In contrast, earlier this year, when a newspaper sprayed a title, asking if Ruto was the “most hated president of Kenya”, a mood that often echoes on social media platforms and public discourse.

It marks an exceptional change in Kenyan politics, often shaped by ethnic beliefs and class units. Just as Ruto is considered by exceeding these barriers before the presidency, the same dynamic now seems to work against him.

This week, the phrase “We are all kikuyus”, a tendency in social media, as young people have rejected attempts to introduce ethnic divisions again that have long struck the Kenyan politics. The opposed story of “We are all Kenyans” appeared, but failed to acquire such grip – some see it as an attempt to dilute the expression of solidarity in the first message.

Kikuyu, the biggest ethnic group in Kenya from the MT Kenya region, predominantly supported Ruto in the 2022 elections, along with Rigatti Gachagua, who originally from the region as his deputy.

But Gachagua’s accustomed from office last year through a dramatic impeachment process, which he described as betrayal, caused dissatisfaction in the region. After some politicians, allied to Ruto, have accused Kiku Elites of nourishing opposition against the president.

Political analyst Mark Bichi says that the president’s opposition is not ethnically driven, but happens in different communities in urban and rural areas.

He defines the “public protest against president and the regime” both “unprecedented” and “historical”, even exceeding political cataclysms from the 1980s and 1990s, when MOI leads a one-party state.

The period was marked by brutal repression and a bloody struggle for multi -party democracy, but dn bits tells the BBC that it does not give rise to the type of pressure that is now moving to Ruto, adding that the tension is then connected to the Cold War and is felt on the whole continent.

But the academic Dr. Nuki, says that criticism equalized to the President is not nothing unusual, but part of the political tradition during a crisis.

“All the presidents, when they went against the Constitution, against the will of the Kenyan people, have always encountered many criticism,” she told the BBC.

She pointed to past leaders such as founder Jomo Kenya and his successor – who were both encountered with intense reversal and loss of public confidence during critical moments – including after the murder of key political leaders and the coup attempt in 1982.

“What is different (this time) is that the scale of information dissemination is higher,” she says, noting the impact of Kenya digital people, whose wide access to social media and digital instruments has strengthened public discourse.

She also describes Ruto as always “very conservative”, suggesting that his political perspectives are confronted with the more liberal values perceived by many Kenyans – especially young people.

This ideological discrepancy, she claims, contributed to the increasing tension.

Current resistance campaigns are largely led by young people based online, decentralized and regarded as without a leader, mostly unfolding beyond the established political class. Since last year, they have been guided by anger by high costs of life, aggressive taxation, corruption and police brutality.

But by pointing ethnic policy and incitement as a nourishment of the worst excitement, the president said on Wednesday: let’s stop ethnic division, hatred, pride and contempt. We are all Kenyans. “

He swore to use “anything needed” to maintain peace and stability. He called the police to Shoot the feet protesters who are aimed at business instead of killing themS His remarks caused more outrage and ridicule.

Since last year, the Kenyan government has responded to protests and disagreement with brutal repression, including mass arrests and alleged abductions by operatives.

This is a strategy that rights groups say that it only deepens public outrage and alienating citizens of the state, with police accused of using excessive force to suppress protests.

More than 100 people have been killed in consecutive waves by anti -government protests since June last year. The latter on Monday took 38 lives, celebrating the most deadly day of unrest.

Instead of serving as a catalyst for a police reform or to press efforts to calm demonstrators, deaths often serve as a spark for subsequent protests, turning grief into rage.

The government has accused the violence against protesters, accusing them of attacking police departments and even trying to make a coup.

Political Communication Expert D -R Hesbon Oville calls the excitement “probably the most intensive outrage against regime” in Kenya’s history. He says this has brought people from all spheres of life to unite in challenge.

He puts it on how President communicates for people. He says Ruto’s promises to raise the wealth of ordinary people were “real, extremely real” and displaced the campaign from ethnic mobilization to a policy -based policy.

“Then he became president. We are still waiting. What the Kenyans are experiencing is worse,” he tells the BBC, capturing a deep sense of disappointment among many Kenyans.

He says that, unlike the past governments that made cautious promises, Ruto made and continued to make, sweeping promises leading to disturbed expectations.

“The disappointment creates fury,” he says.

Referring to the example of the protesters’ shooting order, he also says that the president often speaks when silence can serve him better – overexposed and inadvertently make serious national problems feel personal.

As a result, when there is criticism, it tends to focus on it, instead of attributing it to the failure of management systems.

However, Ruto repeatedly emphasizes the efforts of its administration to improve the lives of all Kenyans by pointing to the flagship project for residential accommodation of the government, a universal health scheme, digital workplaces and a program of employment abroad as key achievements.

As he was checking one of the residential sites this week, he acknowledged the weight of the unemployment of youth, but stressed that the problem preceded his presidency.

He insisted that his government was the first to take intentional steps to deal with the crisis, citing state initiatives such as the housing project, for which he thought he had created hundreds of thousands of jobs.

The president appeals for patience as the problem will take time to resolve.

Yet patience, especially against the backdrop of high costs of life, dissatisfied expectations and growing powerlessness, is not something that most Kenyans think can afford.

Some of these leading programs have come to a sharp cost for the Kenyans, who now have a 1.5% housing fee and a 2.75% health insurance tax deducted from their monthly income. The pain of paying some of these higher taxes dominated daily talks, especially with the notion that higher taxes did not lead to better public services.

For the merit of the government, Dr. Oville says that some of the initiatives, such as the universal healthcare project, have had a great influence and others can ultimately achieve for many.

But the scourgers claims that the government has “lost connection with how people feel” and its tone remains unchanged, despite the growing public resentment.

He says the issue is unlikely to change on the basis of how the government presents it-declaring it as a “love-hate relationship” between people and the Presidency.

This is “how we find ourselves where we are,” he concludes, citing the intense resentment that the president, who was once one of the “most agreed and praised leaders to come to the Kenyan state,”.