Ruto’s Year One: Promised Ease, Delivered Crisis – Kenyans Face Tougher Times
The inauguration of President William Ruto as the fifth president of Kenya has transpired for over a year. Upon assuming office, Kenya was confronted with escalating petroleum and food costs, elevated levels of unemployment, and a concerning indebtedness.
Ruto pledged during his campaign to rectify an economy plagued by corruption and incompetence. He pledged to establish sound governance and prioritize the needs of the impoverished in economic policy. He vowed to combat ethnicized politics and defend the rule of law and constitutionalism.
The promises made by Ruto were of great importance. Equitable distribution of national resources, effective governance, and economic planning and development are all dependent on the rule of law and constitutionalism.
They serve as barriers against political instability, lawlessness, impunity, and democratic regression. During the postcolonial era in Kenya, the political elite strategically utilized ethnicity as a means to secure power, disregarding the welfare of the populace as a whole and social unity.
In addition to undermining state institutions, elite entitlement has contributed to impunity and corruption.
I have conducted research on African elections, democratic transitions, and state formation and conflict. The political class’s exploitation of ethnicity for political and economic gain in Kenya led to the development of weak and even dysfunctional state institutions, as detailed in my 2018 book.
Inflation
During his election campaign, Ruto outlined the most pressing concerns that demanded immediate attention. He tackled pressing matters that demanded immediate attention in the absence of constitutional amendments. These included decoupling police finances from the executive branch, relocating port operations from the inland town of Naivasha to the coastal city of Mombasa, and alleviating the tension between the judiciary and the executive.
However, addressing Kenya’s economic challenges has proven to be a formidable task, as he acknowledged in his State of the Nation address on November 9, 2023. A little more than a year after his inauguration, Ruto has made no progress toward righting the ship of Kenya.
Economic instability
Although he was an alien to Kenya’s power structure, Ruto positioned himself as the most qualified candidate to improve the living conditions of the impoverished and excluded. Despite this, the economy has not improved during his tenure. The living conditions have, if anything, deteriorated.
Due to a significant surge in petrol prices and the depreciation of the local currency, the cost of living has escalated. Kenyans have been subjected to new and increased taxes by the government of Ruto, ostensibly to reduce or eliminate the capital outflow requirement.
While promptly eliminating petroleum and food subsidies, the government has been sluggish in addressing the issue of government waste.
Subsidizing fertilizer was the government’s primary strategy for increasing harvests and ensuring food security. It is uncertain whether or not this will occur. Further intentional strategies are necessary to restore agriculture as the foundation of the economy.
Regarding integrating the disadvantaged and impoverished into governance, Ruto centered his attention on the financial sector. The government established the “Hustler Fund” to reduce the cost of credit.
However, the fund’s potential to improve living standards by generating employment opportunities, for example, is probably nullified by a punitive tax system and a faltering economy.
The rule of law
Ruto commenced his presidency by approving the appointment of six justices who had been left undetermined by Uhuru Kenyatta, his predecessor. In addition, he fulfilled his pledge to increase funding for the judiciary.
To, nevertheless, solidify the rule of law and constitutionalism, further action is required. Judicial officers must conduct themselves with the highest integrity. To establish equality before the law, senior state officers and the political elite who transgress must be held accountable to the law and, if convicted, subjected to severe penalties.
Access to justice remains obstructed by corruption within the Kenyan judiciary. Alarmingly, it is perceived as having a greater propensity to penalize the impoverished while affording impunity to the wealthy and political elite.
Contrary to Kenyatta’s administration, during which lawlessness was the prevailing attitude, Ruto has a history of complying with court orders that were in his opposition. On the contrary, his administration has faced allegations from critics, such as the Law Society of Kenya, that it, too, disregarded court orders, similar to the actions of his predecessor.
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Ruto vehemently opposed extrajudicial and summary executions, as well as enforced disappearances that the police have refined over time. His objective was to grant financial and operational autonomy to the police. As pledged, he therefore delegated the responsibility of accounting for the police budget to the police.
A culture of impunity and lack of transparency continues to undermine the Kenyan police despite these modifications. Continuation of extrajudicial executions. As the constitution specifies, civilian supervision of the police is required.
Ruto’s pledge to combat corruption was weakened by his predecessor’s failure to establish an inquiry commission into state capture, as he had professed during campaign speeches. A year has passed with no formation of an inquiry commission, and the matter appears to have been completely disregarded.
Ruto’s ability to achieve the goals outlined in his manifesto is improbable unless he eliminates rampant corruption and holds the perpetrators accountable. The rule of law necessitates the recovery of criminal proceeds and the prosecution of those responsible for economic sabotage. This strategy would eliminate the necessity to impose additional debt and taxes on the Kenyan people.
National cohesion
The appointment process for government positions has long been marred by longstanding issues such as appointee recycling, patronage, nepotism, and ethnic bias. Senior government officials openly promoting exclusionary ethnic politics while escaping accountability is equally disconcerting. They must be reined in by Ruto.
Ruto’s concession to negotiations to appease the opposition aristocracy, which had resorted to violent demonstrations in opposition to his historic victory, is also a setback. Cynically inaccurate reasoning that this approach strengthens national unity could lead to constitutional amendments that create additional political positions as a result of these elitist, self-serving discussions. Ruto has executed an about-face with this event.
National cohesion is, in essence, the most pressing concern for Ruto. Kenya is economically, ethnically, regionally, and religiously divided; this is a legacy of previous administrations. Ruto ought to transcend ethnoregional appointment criteria.
He must ideologically reconnect with and elevate the “hustler nation,” the disenfranchised constituency that ushered him into power, to achieve legitimacy and transformation. If not, his reelection campaign could be as intensely contested as that of his predecessors.
Ruto’s Year One: Promised Ease, Delivered Crisis – Kenyans Face Tougher Times