President William Ruto during the World Micro, Small Medium Enterprises Day celebrations at Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi, on June 27, 2025.
The protests in Kenya against the current government are a strong indication that President William Ruto has lost legitimacy and should consider resigning for the unity of the country.
Kenya will always be bigger than any individual. The State of Kenya is worth preserving for future generations who are trooping into the streets demanding for a better country. This is non-negotiable.
Last year’s protests, which culminated in the invasion of Parliament on June 25, 2024, were a golden opportunity for the government to press a reset button and usher in an era of transparency and embrace diversity by welcoming the youth, especially Gen Z, to the decision making table. Instead, the opposite happened—old politics were favoured in place of a futuristic country with an ear for the youth and all other Kenyans demanding for a better country.
The betrayal of the cause the youth were fighting for was the first sign that the government did not care for the plight of suffering Kenyans, young and old. That level of arrogance was always going to backfire on the government. Roll forward to 2025, and the latest protests were yet again about addressing the ills that have bedevilled the country, which ought to have been dealt with soon after last year’s deadly protests.
Hard-line approach
The government adopted a hard-line approach since last year when dealing with the opposition. Kidnappings, torture and deaths of dissenters, especially of the youth, became common place and remain so. The hunting ground includes social media, where criticism of a government official means a death sentence meted out without being taken through the due process of the law.
A government that wants to engage cannot afford to rely on Subarus driven by masked men turning up at the doors of innocent and unarmed Kenyans to disappear them.
The government has become defensive since last year’s protest, even defending the indefensible, such as muzzling of free speech and extrajudicial killings. Sending loyalists to media houses and barazas to gaslight and threaten citizens has not dampened the spirit of Kenyans who are only demanding for a better country. As the government and its loyalists choose impunity over rule of law, the carpet is slowly sliding from under its feet.
The world has been watching what is happening in Kenya with shock. Everyone across the world is asking: What does it take to do the right thing by the people of Kenya? The government says it will do nothing to meet the demands of the citizens but will go full speed ahead and spread impunity. That is why an Interior minister, under whose docket internal security falls, sees nothing wrong in issuing a “shoot to kill”order, giving carte blanche power to the police to carry out extrajudicial killings rather than arraigning people in court. Is the ministry not meant to maintain peace and security for all, or this is a privilege only for the ruling class?
Protests
The response to protests since last year proves that the government is not willing to change for the better and is hell-bent on continuing to destroy the country. The more the government becomes defensive, the more it loses legitimacy. Its credibility both at home and abroad is now in tatters. The government has created an environment of fear that cannot be conducive for growth. The stalemate between it and its people is now at a critical stage and irreversible.
As things stand, and in the spirit of unity, it would be advisable for the government to resign and allow for a transition one to take over. Fear and uncertainty are not what Kenyans should be forced to endure until 2027. This is a recipe for more chaos and could plunge the country into violence.
Patriotism starts with the love of the country. If the government truly cares for the country and puts it and its people first, then the reasonable thing to do is to leave and pave the way for a transitional government to oversee an early election. Kenya is bigger than any individual and no political party or government of the day has monopoly over it.
The current government has clearly failed in its mandate and the best thing to do is resign and usher in an era of peace, security and unity. It is the least Kenya deserves. It is better to resign now and save one’s face than wait to be bundled out disgracefully. It has happened in other countries and Kenya is not immune, given the current state of affairs. It’s time to look beyond personal interests and put the country first. It is easier to reset the country now than after violence.
Ms Guyo is a legal researcher. [email protected], @kdiguyo.
