A former roadside chicken seller leads Kenya

William Ruto was sworn in as Kenya’s fifth president on Tuesday, a week after the Supreme Court upheld an election that dashed the hopes of the nation’s most prominent political families and handed power to a man who began his career as a roadside chicken seller.

Ruto, who has served as deputy president for the past 10 years, takes over at a time of surging food and fuel prices, high unemployment and rising public debt.

By 5am, Nairobi’s 60,000-seat Kasarani Sports Centre was packed with Ruto’s supporters resplendent in his party’s colours of yellow and green. They danced and waved miniature national flags to the strains of a band.

“He is our fellow youth. I know he will bring us more opportunity,” said dancer Juma Dominic as he and his troupe warmed up.

The National Police Service tweeted that the stadium was full by 5am and asked citizens to stay at home, but crowds kept trying to force their way in.  St John’s Ambulance Service said it took several injured people to hospital.

From deputy to president

Ruto was deputy to President Uhuru Kenyatta since 2013, but they fell out after the 2017 election. Kenyatta backed opposition leader Raila Odinga to succeed him in the August election and denounced Ruto as unfit for office.

Kenyatta finally publicly congratulated Ruto on the eve of his inauguration.

“You will be president not just for those who voted for you but for all Kenyans,” he said.

Odinga had filed a court challenge accusing Ruto of cheating his way to victory, but the Supreme Court swept aside his petition alongside several others. It was the fifth time that Odinga, 77, had stood for election.

Odinga accepted the court’s decision, helping avoid the sort of violence that marred the elections he lost in 2007 and 2017. He did not attend the inauguration, however, and said on Monday that the election had not been free and fair.

Ruto, a 55-year-old former roadside chicken seller who is now a wealthy businessperson, campaigned by portraying himself as an underdog “hustler” battling the elite. Odinga’s father was Kenya’s first vice-president and Kenyatta’s father was its first president.

That message resonated with chronically underemployed youths and families squeezed by poverty and rampant corruption, which Kenyatta said publicly he could not rein in.

Prominent civil society activists Boniface Mwangi said on Monday that overconfidence, disorganisation and Kenyatta’s embrace doomed Odinga’s campaign.

“Every time Uhuru spoke on behalf of the party, we suffered,” he wrote, pointing out that Kenyans suffered hardship and corruption for 10 years when Kenyatta and Ruto were in charge.

Reuters