William Samoei Ruto has become a liability to both Americans and Kenyans. On June 25, 2024, William Samoei Ruto lost his popular legitimacy to lead Kenyans after the youth expressed their lack of confidence in his regime by forcing him to veto his own unpopular national budget, despite Ruto meting violence on the Kenyan people. Because Ruto has co-opted most politicians, this vote of no-confidence against his regime was expressed through mass protests that were met with police violence, state killings, and illegal abductions by state security agencies. However, the mass protests which were developing into a popular revolution forced Ruto and his allied politicians to seek armed protection that secluded them from the Kenyan people. This is the event that marked Ruto’s loss of political popularity, while many of the politicians he had co-opted have been forced to hide from the constituents who elected them. In simple terms, Ruto regime and his coterie of allied politicians are unwanted by Kenyans.
At the moment, Ruto has erased the geopolitical influence of Kenya, as well as lost the support and confidence of Kenyans.
Ruto is unwanted by Kenyans, just like Ariel Henry was unwanted by the people of Haiti. Just like the Americans forced the unpopular Ariel Henry to resign, the Americans must also push for Ruto to be removed from office as the President of Kenya. Will this be counted as a regime change? If yes, will it be a foreign-imposed regime change, or will it be principally domestic-driven regime change? And most importantly, why is this regime change necessary for both Kenyans and Americans?
Ruto’s Failed Regime Change in an EAC Member State
William Samoei Ruto came to power after being given the popular mandate to govern Kenya – as expressed by Kenyan voters in the August 2022 General Elections. William Ruto inherited a Kenya that wielded immense geopolitical influence in the East African Community (EAC), and was considered the anchor state of EAC. However, Ruto’s first regional adventurism led to the loss of this geopolitical influence.
In late 2022, William Ruto partnered with regional tyrants – Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda – to attempt a regime change in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The goal was to remove Felix Tshisekedi from power, and then install a leader who could be managed by Kagame and Museveni; as well as allow the Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) – which provides the bulk of the M23 fighters – to carve a pseudo-state in Kivu where most of Congolese cobalt is mined. One of the precipitators of this attempted regime change was the call for Uganda to be federated with Rwanda and Burundi so as to prevent any minority-led dictatorship from ruling the new nation. This would require the dictatorships of Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame to be removed from power, and new popular democracy to reign in the new nation.
As I have explained in President Rigathi Gachagua of the Republic of Kenya,…
