Ruto's skin too thin for a politician leave alone a president

For a man who preached the need for a robust opposition while campaigning for the presidency in 2022, a gospel he had spread in his early days as Head of State, President William Ruto has faltered in his tolerance for dissent.

Constantly in the line of fire, an unwritten rule demands he grows a skin thick enough to take disapproval in his stride. Given his long tenure in politics, it is largely expected that he would know how to react to certain issues and what to let slide.

This line does not seem clear enough for Dr Ruto, who is spitting fire over successive waves of anti-government protests. He reacts to every piece of dissent, directly or through proxies, portraying the President as somewhat thin-skinned. And that has led some to think of him as angry.

Hours after the Head of State issued illegal orders directing police officers to shoot the legs of looters and arsonists hijacking the youth-led demonstrations, he would rile at the Judiciary for barring roadblocks during protests.

“Someone in court has said that the Inspector General of the Police cannot erect roadblocks, use tear gas and water cannons to protect life and property. Whoever is saying that has officers guarding his home and driving his vehicle, yet he says that other people’s lives and property have no meaning,” Ruto said at State House in Nairobi, a statement that is not entirely true.

He was reacting to a ruling by High Court Judge Lawrence Mugambi, which temporarily banned the use of barricades to block entry into the Nairobi Central Business District, where many city dwellers work and own businesses.

On Monday, police officers erected barricades of razor wire, spike strips, boulders and crime scene tape to hamper the planned Saba Saba (Seven Seven) protests, staged to commemorate the pro-democracy marches of July 7, 1990.

In his ruling on a case filed by the Katiba Institute, a rights group, Justice Mugambi faulted the government for failing to issue prior notice of the blockade, which obstructed emergency services and paralysed court operations, as well as other day-to-day activities by millions of Kenyans.

“There is a reason why there is a roadblock… tear gas… water cannons. They are supposed to protect the lives and property of other Kenyans when they are in danger,” a visibly irked Ruto added.

The President did not stop there. He lashed out at former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua for claiming that businesses from a single community had been targeted for looting, allegedly by the state.

“Kama huyu mtu ni mwanaume kamili atuambie hao watu ni kina nani. (If this person is man enough, he should tell us who these people (looters) are,” said Ruto, who termed Gachagua’s remarks as “ujinga” (foolishness).

He had expressed equal rage in the earlier hours of Wednesday, when he ordered the  shooting of rioters to incapacitate them and cast himself as the victim of a sinister ouster plot.

“Moi, Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta were all presidents before me. So, what’s all the fuss about? Why are all these problems brought to me? Why didn’t Kibaki and Uhuru get this kind of treatment? Let’s end all the contempt and tribalism,” Ruto lamented.

On Thursday, a video clip of Belgut Member of Parliament Nelson Koech irately said rioters should be killed, a statement that mirrored similar ones by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen in the wake of this year’s June 25 protests.

“Shoot and kill. You cannot have someone coming after your life… terrorising you and your family and you cannot shoot and kill,” Koech ranted, saying the only force applying to rioters was “shooting and killing” them.

This is not the first show of anger by the Head of State and his allies. Months ago, when Gen-Z protesters baptised him Kasongo, he seemed like he would show some tolerance, having taken the name in his stride. His reaction to Zakayo, a name he earned courtesy of his push for more taxes, had been equally positive.

But the talk by the opposition that he would serve a single term as president has, undoubtedly, gotten into Ruto’s head, and his allies’, who have suggested they would rig the 2027 polls if the Head of State fails to secure enough votes on the ballot.

His anger at criticism has extended to his government's persecution of the media. On June 25, the state turned off signals of KTN, NTV and K24 for airing the youth-led demos live. Previously, journalists from the Standard have been denied access to the State House, Ruto’s official residence, over the publication’s reporting of the government’s ills.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna yesterday said Ruto had become an “existential threat to Kenya and must go as soon as possible.”

“If decisions are being made democratically at an election, can we guarantee that all of us get to that election. You can’t tell me to wait for you at the ballot and make sure I don’t get there… as a country, we have totally lost our way,” said Sifuna.

Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi concurred, saying the Head of State, Ruto, needs to tone down his anger.

“You cannot be that angry at the people you lead. Such anger should not be witnessed in democratic societies, where you lead according to the wishes of those you lead. This anger is only seen by leaders of autocratic states,” said Mwangangi.

Since he ascended to the Presidency in 2022, Ruto has been known for his fiery tongue, which hardly hesitates to dish out threats.

Indeed, he has previously lashed out at critics of his various policies, dishing out unflattering terms like “pepo chafu” and “shetani” to recently refer to detractors opposing his plan to construct a church at the State House. He occasionally loses his cool at rallies, exchanging words with pestering attendees.

When faced with resistance by businesspeople and cartels in different sectors, he issued the infamous “mambo ni matatu” phrase, which threatened imprisonment, deportation or a trip to heaven for those standing in his way.

“We must call this what it is – a dangerous descent towards authoritarianism,” said Prof Gitile Naituli, who teaches leadership and management. “The President is not above the Constitution. His anger does not override our rights. His frustrations do not suspend due process. His political discomfort does not justify state-sponsored violence.”

Gachagua and former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi previously claimed that Ruto takes these exchanges to Cabinet meetings, where he allegedly "intimidates" his subordinates.

The worst of the government's insecurity was on display when the government reacted strongly to a play by Butere Girls High School, Echoes of War, which rallies action against corruption, cronyism and other ills bedevilling the government. That was in April, when school girls were tear-gassed after walking off stage in protest of the state’s ban on the play.

Kenya Kwanza’s insecurities have also shown in Ruto’s reaction to previous protests. Peaceful protesters, hoisting placards and chanting anti-government slogans, were met with live bullets, tear gas and batons.

The President has referred to picketers as anarchists. As though on instruction, the police, willing accomplices of the powers that be, have ‘cancelled’ planned demos and cracked down on defiant protesters, killing and injuring tens.

Ruto’s administration exposed its thin skin during the Raila-led opposition’s anti-government protests in 2023, which government officials said they would not allow. At the height of the protests, the tear-gassing of Raila’s supporters who gathered to celebrate Raila’s birthday in Nairobi’s central business district.

The insecurities have dictated the State’s reaction to online dissent. Government critics have faced open threats and abductions. At the start of the online mobilisation, young men were taken by hooded gun-wielding men and held incommunicado in what they later claimed felt like torture chambers.

Some youth who generated unsavoury cartoons against the Head of State faced the same fate, with many finding the government’s reaction to be petty. In January, journalist Patrick Gathara noted that cartoonists had never been brutalised, not even during Kenya’s dark ages.

“Political cartooning in Kenya has never been without its risks. Cartoonists have faced state-engineered dismissal and censorship, lawsuits from irate politicians unhappy with their portrayal, and even the occasional phoned-in threat. However, until this week, they had never had to endure arbitrary detention,” he said in an article published on Al Jazeera in the wake of the abduction of Gideon Kibet, a cartoonist more famous as Kibet Bull.

Other security agencies have been roped into Ruto’s fight to ward off resignation calls. In March, Chief of Defence Forces General Charles Kahariri spoke about the alleged unconstitutionality of Ruto-must-go chants. National Intelligence Service Director General Noordin Haji has also shunned this push, and has recently been the face of the government’s plan to introduce a strict regulation of social media.