Inside Africa: Kenyan President William Ruto Sinks Further Into Political Crisis
Protestors in Nairobi’s Central Business District last June / Image by Guillaume antignac
In a short GIF shared on X by @HotepSun on January 11th, 2025, an AI generated President William Ruto is laying down on the sand, his arms stretched out. Rocks befall him as a large crowd surrounding cheers. In another shared by @MethoDman, Ruto lies peacefully in a casket. Many others, also AI generated, depict him posing in a bikini, or running, clothes torn, from a similar angry mob. They are all hashtagged by the same phrase ‘RutoMustGo’.
The Ruto memes are part of a vast defamation campaign driven by anti-governmental Kenyan activists especially active on social media, also termed the Gen Zs by officials because of the many youths among them. Other hashtags such as ‘OccupyStateHouse’ or ‘RIPRuto’ are also viral on X. They all refer to protests which happened between June and July 2024, during which at least 50 civilians were killed, most shot by police.
Police arresting demonstrators in Nairobi last june / Image by Guillaume antignac
William Ruto had introduced a finance bill to alleviate Kenya’s national debt of $80bn, which he blames his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta for. Included were taxes across a variety of consumer goods such as bread, cooking oil, plastics, and packaging, as well as taxes on mobile banking services such as mpesa, the commonly used money transferring service.
Ruto's presidency had already increased the cost of living with previous
tax hikes, while unemployment remained stubbornly high despite his
promises to address an economy plagued by corruption and prioritize the
poor in economic policy. When the new taxes threatened the already high cost of living, many took to the streets. Over the course of a few weeks, the protests escalated to a national level. Activists stormed the parliament, setting parts of it ablaze.
Kenya settled into its current political crisis. Ruto reversed the bill in an attempt to assuage his unpopularity. He had previously been very popular among young people in Kenya because of a democratic flare he carried in his election campaign alongside economic stimulation.
To win the election, Ruto had also enlisted Rigathi Gachagua to be his deputy president. He was a member of parliament for the Mathira constituency situated in the region around Mount Kenya, the heartland of the Kikuyu tribe, one of the largest tribes of the country. The regions around Mount Kenya in the centre of the country are the key to its political power. Ruto received 47% of his votes from the region in 2022. They backed him because of Gachagua.
Yet, when the protests became a matter of concern last summer, Gachagua accused the head of the national intelligence agency (NIS) of failing to brief the president properly, claiming the NIS had “slept on the job”. This undermined Ruto’s authority in enforcing his proposed bill, pitting the pair against one another.
To gain some leverage with the angry population, Ruto strategically dissolved his entire cabinet and brought in four politicians from the opposition Orange Democratic Movement party. As tensions continued in October, members of parliament banded together to impeach Gachagua on grounds of corruption, violating his oath, and sowing ethnic divisions.
The impeachment was backed by a surprising majority of MP’s, despite Gachagua’s strong rejection of the accusations and his backing in the Mount Kenya region. He fell ill the day he was supposed to appear in defence to the senate and was subsequently impeached without defence. Ruto has since replaced four further cabinet ministers with opposition politicians in an attempt to consolidate his power. To replace Gachagua, he chose Kithure Kindiki, a friend from a darker past.
Across Ruto’s long career as an MP, a shadow looms over his character. Following the 2007/2008 presidential elections, huge demonstrations and unrest swept Kenya in protest of Mwai Kibaki’s re-election, a decision which was largely contested by both Kenya’s opposition, led by the still serving Raila Odinga, and international observers. Over 1 300 people were killed and half a million forced to flee their homes when violent persecution and killings erupted, partially motivated by ethnic discord and the belief that Kikuyus held political dominance over Kenya.
Ruto is alleged to have incited members of his Kalenjin tribe to attack and kill supporters of Kibaki’s Party of National Unity. He was brought before the International Criminal Court after the conflict, alongside his predecessor in office, Uhuru Kenyatta, both accused of crimes against humanity including murder. Kindiki was among Ruto’s defence council.
During the trial, 16 of the 42 witnesses ceased cooperation with the courts. They had been threatened and intimidated by agents not to expose information. Kenyan authorities’ unwillingness to cooperate further complicated prosecution, resulting in Ruto’s acquittal in 2016. The matter is believed to be settled, his innocence carrying him to the presidency in 2022. To be sure, according to International Peace Institute, “several other witnesses admitted during their testimonies to have told lies to the prosecutors in return for money”, suggesting that obstruction of justice went both ways.
Yet Kenyan activists and sources behind the current crisis continue to insist Ruto is guilty. It is part of the reason the Gen Zs are now so determined in their smear campaign. The allegations of crimes against humanity, coupled with a history of alleged land-grabbing scandals, are seen by many as exposing his hypocrisy when advocating democratic values and pledging to end corruption. Kenyans also overwhelmingly nominated Ruto to be the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project’s 2024 ‘Person of the Year’, who lost out to Bashar-Al-Assad.
Ruto's portrayal as Africa's liberal leader on the international stage,
highlighted by his alignment with the US during a state visit in May
2024, no longer deceives Kenyans, who continue to endure corruption
and government injustices at home. The protests were spurred by the belief that taxes would in part be used to finance high public sector salaries, including those of top-level officials. They escalated due to the violent suppression demonstrated by security forces.
Since then, they have only been proven right. At least 82 government critics have gone missing since June, many for posting manipulated images of Ruto using the hashtags on X. They are abducted by armed, non-uniform-wearing agents who pounce on them randomly, without a warrant or police officers present. The roughly two-thirds who have resurfaced describe an ordeal of solitary confinement and questioning about their online activity. Some described being held in darkness. None returned with their phones. Roughly a third of the abductees are still missing.
Protests restarted about the abductions towards the end of 2024 and into the New Year. Ruto, who admitted in his New Year’s address that “instances of excessive and extrajudicial actions” had occurred by security forces, denied any involvement. Yet to many, nobody else could be behind the abductions than him.
Instead, he claimed that the manipulation of images generated by AI “are clear signals that our moral fabric is at risk of decay.” Usually, he would be right. Given Ruto’s history, however, if anyone’s attire exudes a putrid smell, it would be his. Ruto isn’t exactly the material of the moral fabric. AI-generated images are, in this context, mere satire of that very fact.
