MUNDIA KAMAU: William Ruto Is Not The Only Unpopular President That Kenya Has Had

Kenya’s first President, Jomo Kenyatta, was also not particularly popular.

When Jomo Kenyatta passed away on August 22, 1978, there were people who rejoiced in silence.

A small clique of wealthy and powerful individuals in President Jomo Kenyatta’s inner circle were calling the shots during the final years of his presidency, and they were not making beneficial decisions.

Similarly, when the presidency of Kenya’s second President, Daniel T. arap Moi, came to an end on December 30, 2002, after 24 years, many Kenyans rejoiced.

Kenyans who remember the transition from Daniel T. arap Moi to Kenya’s third President, Mwai Kibaki, will recall how the words of a Kiswahili gospel song were altered from “Yote yawezekana kwa imani” (All is possible with faith) to “Yote yawezekana bila Moi” (All is possible without Moi).

I’m also not convinced about the popularity of Kenya’s third President, Mwai Kibaki.

Many Kenyans regard Mwai Kibaki as Kenya’s best president so far, though it was under his leadership that Kenya almost descended into civil war after the bitterly disputed Kenyan elections of December 27, 2007.

Two years earlier, on November 21, 2005, Mwai Kibaki lost a referendum on a new Kenyan constitution, raising questions about how unifying and popular a figure he truly was.

Consider Ronald Reagan, who served as President of the USA from 1981 to 1989.

Reagan won two consecutive US presidential elections by landslides, in 1980 and 1984. Reagan’s 1984 landslide was particularly spectacular—he won 49 out of 50 US states.

His rival, Walter Mondale, won only one state (his home state of Minnesota), and even there by a narrow margin.

If Mwai Kibaki was as popular as many Kenyans assert, he would have won the 2002 and 2007 Kenyan presidential elections with massive landslides similar to Reagan’s 1984 victory, and he would have won the 2005 and 2010 referendums by similar margins.

Mwai Kibaki was overrated and was not a popular Kenyan president.

Kenya’s fourth President, Uhuru Kenyatta, cannot be described as having been popular either.

Uhuru Kenyatta won two Kenyan presidential elections, in 2013 and 2017, both of which were disputed and both of which had to be decided by the Supreme Court of Kenya.

In fact, four consecutive Kenyan presidential elections have been disputed—those of 2007, 2013, 2017, and 2022—and three consecutive Kenyan elections have had to be decided by the Supreme Court of Kenya (2013, 2017, and 2022).

This pattern indicates that there is no unifying or broadly popular leader in Kenya and suggests that Kenya is heavily divided, fragmented, disillusioned, polarized, and distrustful of its leaders and leadership.

William Ruto is not a popular president, though exactly the same applies to Kenya’s first four presidents: Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel T. arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki, and Uhuru Kenyatta.

As a matter of fact, if you speak to Black Kenyan men and women aged about 80 years and above today in 2025—people who have experienced life in Kenya under British colonial rule and under the Kenyan presidencies of Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel T. arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Uhuru Kenyatta, and William Ruto—a good number will tell you that life was better in Colonial Kenya than it has been since independence in 1963.

A good number will tell you that things worked better in Kenya under British colonial rule than they have since independence in 1963, and that they long for the “good old days.”

NB: Opinions are writer’s own.