Kenya: A president under siege

The president has turned to football to regain the trust of young people as he faces discontent over taxes and unfulfilled promises ahead of the 2027 election

- Jim Onyango

“We sat down after the riots and realised we are losing too many kids. We have gone to too many funerals. There is one thing they can’t do — they can’t out-organise us. So we stopped agonising, and now we are organising to bring about a ballot revolution,” said Boniface Mwangi, a human rights activist and former photojournalist who, in August, announced his presidential campaign to unseat Kenya’s President William Ruto. This came after two rounds of deadly youth-led riots due to soaring cost of living.

Earlier, on a June afternoon in 2024, gunshots and tear gas filled the air as Mwangi and thousands of young Kenyans pushed past heavily armed police and barricades towards parliament. The chants were raw: “Ruto must go. No more taxes.” By nightfall, when the guns fell silent and the tear gas cleared, 60 young people lay dead in the capital's streets, along with many more injured. Similar riots and police brutality would occur again during the first anniversary of the youth uprising in June and July 2025. The political contract between Ruto and the young Kenyans seemed shattered, giving rise to new ambitions such as those of Mwangi.

For many in Generation Z, the digital-first group that had once given Ruto the benefit of the doubt, this moment marked a significant break. They believed the self-styled “hustler president” would create jobs, lower the price of food and internet, and alleviate their struggles. Instead, they felt the government pushed through a harsh Finance Bill that imposed levies on housing, health and digital transactions, adding to frustrations that were already heightened by joblessness and inflation.