Kenyan Protests, Part One: The political education of President William Ruto

Lessons on the difficulties of governing during turbulent economic times after campaigning as an anti-establishment populist.

This is the first of a three part series on the current economic and political crises in Kenya. Part One will address the political foundations of the crisis. Part Two will tackle the real economic challenges that the current administration inherited, and arguably made worse. Finally, Part Three will conclude with some thoughts on the set of bad options on the table for the administration.

I: Reaping what he sowed

Over the last two weeks I have struggled to understand why President William Ruto has turned out to be a much worse politician than Candidate William Ruto. For someone who won the presidency on a populist message, he completely misjudged the months-long simmering public anger over proposed new taxes amidst the rising cost of living, public sector corruption, in-your-face flaunting of opulence by corruption officials on social media, deteriorating public services, and generalized erosion of government legitimacy.

So far his reactions suggest that the events of June 25, 2024 — w…