Kenya's defiant youth committed to ousting impotent Ruto

Kim Heller

President William Ruto is facing fierce scrutiny. Calls for the first citizen of Kenya to resign are mounting as rage simmers around the government’s inability to fuel economic recovery and growth, corruption, and police brutality.

Kenya is experiencing significant political turbulence. In June 2024, the youth of Kenya, worn down by poverty, joblessness, and ever-increasing living expenses, took to the streets in a show of wrath against the Finance Bill and the Ruto administration. The Bill proposed taxation on basic goods and would have placed an unbearably heavy economic burden on Kenya's most indigent citizens. At least sixty protestors were killed in the 2024 anti-taxation protests. 

This year, blood has continued to flow in the streets of Kenya. The anti-taxation protest has evolved into a mighty movement against the lacklustre economic performance of the Ruto administration, its unscrupulous and repressive state institutions, and its score of broken promises to revive youth employment and economic prospects. Since 25 June, forty-seven protestors have been killed by the police, and hundreds arrested. 

Muffling the cries of anguished young Kenyan protestors through state savagery is the mark of a government in the throes of illegitimacy. Public trust in Ruto's administration is plunging. Neo-liberal, anti-poor reforms and austerity measures, devised by the IMF and World Bank and poorly navigated by Ruto, have brought no relief or prospects for Kenya’s young population.

Kenya is the IMF's second-largest borrower, after Egypt. Its dependency on the IMF poses a perpetual threat to Kenya’s sovereignty. Kenya's former Chief Justice, Willy Mutunga, has criticised Ruto's administration for placing foreign creditors ahead of local needs. Ruto's fiscal approach, bankrolled by foreign parties, is geared towards keeping bankruptcy at bay and tackling debt servicing and inflation control.

However, it appears to be backfiring, as ordinary Kenyans, especially the youth, reject foreign intervention as an economic burden, worsening the economic decline and debt situation. For now, the Kenyan economy is dangerously weak. Deep-seated frustrations with the incumbent government have created an ever-present storm of discontent.

It is in this political whirlwind that Ruto could be ousted by a hostile electorate in 2027. The political quick fix of co-opting Raila Odinga into the government has not tamed discontent. Nor does it offer economic cure or consolation. Despite parliamentary domination and somewhat feeble opposition, Ruto may fail to win a second Presidential term.

His survival will hinge on his readiness to reconfigure the economy to serve the neediest, abandon anti-poor fiscal policies, and create much-needed jobs. If he fails to address allegations of government corruption and denounce police violence against citizens, Ruto will be a no-hoper in the upcoming game of thrones.

In a television interview with Citizen TV Kenya this week, well-known exiled Kenyan political activist and constitutional lawyer, Dr. Miguna Miguna, spoke about how, through the ages, the youth are always the mortar of change. He commended the current generation of youth in Kenya for doing a "marvellous, historical job".

President William Ruto pipes an altogether different tune. On 9 July 2025, the President of Kenya instructed police to shoot protesters who damage businesses in the leg to hinder them. His message was clear: "Kenya cannot and will not be ruled through threats, terror, or chaos. Not under my watch." 

In the recent protests, a pre-teen was killed by a stray bullet. Her death will forever be a sad reminder of a nation at war with itself. It is heartbreaking treachery by Ruto, who pledged to be the champion of the youth. The recent death of well-known blogger, Albert Ojwang, while he was in police custody, and the killing of an innocent street trader, Boniface Kariuki, by police during the July 2025 protests have exacerbated tensions. 

The centre is not holding. The people of Kenya are decisively turning against their President. Ruto’s international friends are unlikely to lend a hand to save him. Left to fester, the pandemonium of protests could impair the 2027 election, further imperil job creation, and endanger international and regional trade.

Ongoing protest action also poses a threat to regional stability, trade routes and economic cooperation. Kenya, once a beacon of resilience in East Africa, is fast becoming a trigger for political mobilisation and activism of and by the youth, inspiring the birth of regional movements. 

The grievances that fuel the protest must be addressed, but not through repressive mechanisms. The challenge for Ruto is to move Kenya from rupture to recalibration. The wise words of renowned Kenyan author, Ngugi wa Thiong'o ring true, "Our lives are a battlefield on which is fought a continuous war between the forces that are pledged to confirm our humanity and those determined to dismantle it; those who strive to build a protective wall around it, and those who wish to pull it down."

The Ruto administration is unlikely to find its humanity and humility in the current battleground that is playing out in the streets of Kenya. The current administration is failing in its duty to protect its citizenry. For many decades, Dr Miguna has spoken of the need for a new constitutional order in Kenya and the creation of a democratic developmental state, founded on economic decolonisation.

This would be a promised land for the economically dislodged and disempowered youth of Kenya. But such economic and political recalibration is unlikely to be part of the playbook of the Ruto regime. The very generation that Ruto promised to uplift out of poverty in his election campaign is the same generation that could well drive him out of the seat of power. That would be a touch of justice.

* Kim Heller is a political analyst and author of No White Lies: Black Politics and White Power in South Africa.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.