How Ruto responded to 2024 Gen Z demos

A collage of President William Ruto and a protester during the anti-government demos.HANDOUT

Confronted by waves of protests from angry youth who pushed for radical reforms, President William Ruto badged, giving in to a host of concessions in a bid to calm protesters.

The unprecedented protests nearly brought the Kenya Kwanza administration to its knees and threatened to end President Ruto’s rule.

When they called for countrywide protests, the youths who claimed they were tribeless, leaderless, and partyless mobilised largely through social media platforms.

While Gen Z went to the streets to push for the withdrawal of the controversial Finance Bill of 2024, the push later took a life of its own, pushing for more accountability from leaders.

They also demanded, among other issues, tough measures against corruption, impunity, incompetence within the state and public appointments, opulent lifestyles of public officers, unemployment, and high cost of living.

After days of sustained pressure, President Ruto was convinced to reconsider his stand on the Finance Bill, 2024, which would have seen Kenyans dig deeper in their pockets to fund government operations.

However, the President's delayed response to the matter partially opened the door to the inclusion of other issues to be raised by the citizenry, who came up with a list of demands that they wanted addressed by the government.

The youths issued fresh demands to the government, with some calling for President Ruto's resignation.

Top of the list posted online and labelled “non-negotiable" was the call for the Executive to obey all court orders and scrap the illegal and illegitimate Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) position.

The Gen Zs also demanded the removal of public funding of the Office of the First Lady, Second Lady, and Prime Cabinet Secretary’s Spouse and instead redirect those funds to other pressing needs.

Further, the list also called for the scrapping of the housing levy, the publishing of audited records on how the funds have been utilised and refunds for all contributors.

The list called for the immediate firing of all government officials with criminal records and integrity issues while being advised to constitute the IEBC within 30 days and employ JSS teachers and intern doctors.

More demands have been made for the reduction of Members of Parliaments’ salaries and allowances, capping them at  Sh200,000.

A blessing in disguise

Analysts said then that President Ruto could turn the revolt against him into a blessing in disguise by engineering radical and sweeping changes in his administration to assuage public displeasure.

The raging public discontent and countrywide protests by the youth then handed President Ruto a great opportunity to clear the mess in his government, including fighting graft.

University Professor Gitile Naituli said then that the president could seize the opportunity presented by the Generation Z protesters to prove his critics wrong and turn around his legacy.

“The moment has been presented to him (Ruto) to have a great legacy and to become the best President that the country ever had," Naituli told the Star.

The don noted he has a golden opportunity to even deliver a lean and efficient cabinet for Kenya.

“Ruto can hide behind the demands by Gen Z to fix the government’s mess for good, get a competent cabinet, and aggressively go for looted money," Naituli said.

The response

In days that followed, President Ruto responded in a radical way to address concerns by Gen Z by first rejecting the Finance Bill, 2024, and returning it to Parliament for deletion.

“The people have spoken,” Ruto said in a press conference on June 26, barely 24 hours before protesters vowed to again take to the streets. “I concede.”

In a radical move, President Ruto announced that his administration would embrace budget cuts in response to Gen Z protests.

Other key reforms include reducing the number of government advisors by 50 per cent and removing the confidential budget including for his office following an uproar from the public.

In a bid to assuage public anger, Ruto also announced a raft of measures, including a Presidential Taskforce on Forensic Audit of Public Debt, a Health task force and a six-day multi-sectoral dialogue.

Ruto had said that the dialogue forum would begin Monday, July 15 to discuss issues pressing Kenyans and that the forum would draw representatives from political parties, religious groups, civil society, employers and youth.

“In the interest of making sure we live within our means; all participants will bear their attendance costs. This is a result of consultations we have held this morning,” he said flanked by a section of government leaders and Azimio boss Raila Odinga at KICC.

The attendance invited a blanket condemnation from Gen Z and a host of the Azimio leaders who accused the political elite of trying to hijack the Gen Z-driven initiative that is demanding accountability from the Kenya Kwanza administration.

Another promise Ruto made was to scrap budgets allocated to the offices of First Lady Rachel Ruto,  then-Second Lady Dorcas Rigathi and Pirme CS Musalia Mudavadi’s wife.

The government would save Sh1.2 billion by dropping budgetary allocations to the offices, which Kenyans had termed unconstitutional.

The President announced the austerity measures affecting the three offices when he called a media engagement with Gen Zs at the State House in July.

“My sons and daughters, we have a country to keep; it is the only home we have,” Ruto passionately urged the young generation.

Speaking during a joint media interview with digital writers in July, President Ruto urged the youth to seek alternative ways to express their grievances and to embrace dialogue.

“I value what you do, I have heard what you have said, I have seen what you have done and you have made recommendations, some I will rightly implement,” he said adding “I have a very clear plan to address your issues.”

Attributing the escalating tension in the country to “a misunderstanding and miscommunication,” President Ruto vowed to “address some of the issues you have raised.”

He regretted that “I am partly to blame” and committed to doing better by opening room for dialogue and talking to each other with the view of betting the country’s fortunes.

“You have given me some difficult choices, I will suggest to you how we can go about them together. But I want to promise you that in the engagement that we are going to have, I will be thoroughly clear and I want you to be equally clear on what you think,” he said.