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The Nairobian

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Ruto focusing more on re-election than solving hustlers' problems

Opinion

By Kinuthia Njoroge | Jan 21, 2025

A reality that Dutch humanist and philosopher Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus wrote about in 1509 mirrors our political situation today. In his play, ‘The Praise of Folly’, he wrote, “The less talent they have, the more pride, vanity, and arrogance they have. All these fools, however, find other fools who applaud them.”

This is a true reflection of our theatre of the absurd as vain and vociferous Kenya Kwanza legislators traverse the country insulting Kenyans, publicly wishing they could kill anti-government critics, and getting applauded. They have also reminded us of Joseph Stalin’s caution that “those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.”

Something about our brand of politics that draws succour from sycophancy sucks. The drivers of our non-ideological politics are greed and self-aggrandisement, virtues that define individuals who, by word and deed, have left no doubt that they are mere political marionettes incapable of independent or rational thought. The delusion citizens have about politicians championing their interests continues to hold them captive to political leeches that suck the blood out of their emaciated bodies.

Kenyans are exhausted from the high cost of living, police brutality, a dysfunctional, yet exploitatively expensive education system, a comatose health sector, unemployment, multinationals that exploit them to no end, rampant corruption in government and poverty.

The three things that gave our founding fathers the reason to take up arms against colonialists; poverty, illiteracy and diseases are still as strong today as they were then. At the close of 2022, Kenya’s poverty index was 39.8 per cent, translating to 20 million people living below the poverty line.

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The government is treating Kenyans like stowaways on a ship they built with their own sweat and blood.

The captain appears least bothered by their groans and cries for help and mercy. Unperturbed by the suffering of millions of poor Kenyans, leaders would rather try and outdo each other in sycophantic behaviour.

As Desiderius says, “Many wear their titles like crowns, basking in vanity, surrounded by flatterers who cheer them on despite their lack of ability or virtue. These fools create echo chambers of arrogance where truth and wisdom are drowned out by the noise of their pride”.

If anybody in Kenya today should be having migraines, thrombosis, insomnia, acute miasma, reflux and all that, it should be President William Ruto. But, is he? Nothing seems to work anymore, yet rather than address public concerns, especially regarding SHA and abductions, even if perfunctorily, he has chosen silence that shows lack of empathy. To the government, deaths from the shortcomings of SHA and abductions are just a statistic.

A recent revelation by CS Justin Muturi on abductions leaves Dr Ruto with very little wiggle room. Some opposition leaders and human rights groups have invoked the name of ICC to galvanise Ruto into action. Indeed, the buck stops with him as the country’s security apparatus’ boss.

Seemingly, he is not bothered by the prospects of becoming a guest at the ICC for a second time on account of the abductions and disappearances of government critics.

Ruto’s focus is more on securing a second term than anything else. Much of his attention is on forming the broad-based government, which we all know will be his stepping stone into the second term of the presidency. A broad-based government offers him a wider bridge to stroll leisurely as he marches to State House in 2027.

By getting Raila Odinga to his side, he de-fanged the opposition, whose remnants are struggling to find relevance. The inclusion of Uhuru allies in government is a desperate attempt to win back a critical voting block that a single miscalculation cost him.

The supposed merger of Amani National Congress (ANC) with United Democratic Alliance (UDA) where the latter swallowed the former whole, is an attempt to win western, but that too, will face challenges posed by the political dynamics in that region.