The unpalatable choice before Kenyans may explain why this election is likely to be characterised by indifference
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskWilliam Ruto, Kenya’s deputy president and a marginal favourite to win a presidential election in August, tellsthat he is inspired by Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, and Margaret Thatcher. It is an odd combination. One destroyed Tanzania’s economy by nationalising businesses and forcing people into collective farms. The other transformed Britain’s economy through privatisation.
Thatcher is admired, he says, because she came from a humble background. Mr Ruto, who once sold fried chicken to motorists at a railway crossing, argues he is a “hustler” like the poor whose votes he is courting. He dismisses as “dynasts” his main opponent, Raila Odinga, a son of Kenya’s first vice-president, and Mr Odinga’s main backer, the incumbent, Uhuru Kenyatta, a son of Kenya’s first president.
with its external creditors. When asked what are the main differences between his platform and Mr Ruto’s, he suggests personalities, rather than policies. “I stand for righteousness…and against corruption,” Mr Odinga says. “My opponent is basically the opposite of me.” This cynicism seems to percolate down to the electorate, too. When in February Mr Kenyatta endorsed Mr Odinga, once his bitter est rival, and denounced Mr Ruto, his deputy for the past ten years, Kenyans barely turned a hair. “Politics in Kenya is like looking through a kaleidoscope,” grumbles a Western diplomat. “The bits are still the same but every time you shake it they form different patterns.