Why Kenya president attracts so many nicknames

Kenya’s President William Ruto is a man of many nicknames.

Deputy Jesus, El Chapo, Hustler and Chicken are just a few that he has acquired in recent years.

As is often the case when people get alternative monikers, some are affectionate, but some are meant to mock and display a deep anger.

A history of the president’s aliases offers a window on how the perception of him has changed.

Ruto has acknowledged the recipruptcy trend and recently jokes that Kenyans “finish” him with the many labels.

“You gave me so many names. I had the name William Kipchirchir Samoei Ruto. You have added Survivor … Zakayo … Now you are at Kasongo (the title of a Congolese song about abandoned and heartache). Do you want to stop at ten, or do I have to prepare for more?” he recently asked.

The crowd, during a meeting in the capital, Nairobi, replied that they had even more.

Before he was elected president in 2022, Ruto attracted handles who strengthened his reputation as a man of the people.

Hustler – Kenyan language for someone who is expected to be expectations – helped him to portray him if someone who prioritizes the needs of the struggling people.

Chicken seller, who refers to his childhood when he hung poultry along the road, resonated with many who saw his life as his own embodiment.

“These were very positive (names). They sold him to the public in terms of voting,” said political analyst Prof Herman Manyora the BBC and claimed that they helped him in catapulting in the top track.

“Names really stay with Ruto,” he added.

But the president has long been a controversial figure in Kenyan politics, including serving as a vice-president until 2022, and has never been far from controversy.

Profencyora reminds us of the Arap Mashamba label – which translates as “son of Farms” – conceived a little less than a decade ago and relates to Ruto’s ownership of huge tracts of land. There have been concerned about how some of them were acquired.

In 2013, a court ordered Ruto to give up a 100 hectare (40 hectare) farm and to compensate for a farmer who had accused him of taking it during the violence after the 2007 elections. He denied misconduct.

Ruto’s preference for quoting Bible verses also earned him the deputy Jesus tag.

However, since his rise of the presidency, it has been nickname manufacturers to work overtime – with at least a dozen created – and they have become increasingly critical.

One that stood out is Zakayo – Swahili for the name Zaccheeaus, a biblical figure that is depicted as a greedy tax collector who has climbed a tree to see Jesus.

The government of Ruto has produced a series of unpopular taxes and started to say many Kenyans that he had betrayed the “Hustlers”.

“He was unable to become president,” said Prof Wellora.

The pain of paying more taxes, and a perception that the extra money will be wasted is often the focus many conversations.

Last year young people came out of the streets of Nairobi for weeks of protests, which became fatal, against a new government proposal to raise taxes that was later fallen.

The singing “Ruto Must Go” became a collective call for the demonstrators and must now have to go, has become another way to refer to the leader.

The creative chrims have also focused on the claim that the president enjoys foreign journeys.

Hence the title Vasco da Ganya -a play in the name of the 15th -century Portuguese Explorer, Vasco da Gama, and the Swahili word Danganya, which means “lying”.

Ruto’s honesty has also been questioned with Kaunda Uongoman, who mimics the late Congolese musician Kanda Bongoman.

The first part refers to the President’s love for the Kaunda -Pak -a safari jacket with matching pants -and uongoman, with the Swahili word uongo, which means “lies”.

But the president seems insensitive to this volley of verbal attacks.

Government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said that the many nicknames “don’t worry” in the president’s office, but simply “record how people see a person”.

Ruto is “very practical and does his best to transform the economy … It is normal for every leader to have a lot of nicknames, because this means his various attributes and initiatives as leader,” he told the BBC.

Mwaura also argued that, despite the nickname of Zakayo, the government had to levy taxes to pay new projects, lower the budget deficit and repair the economy.

Nevertheless, when people have gone beyond the inventing of new names and satire and have used forms of art to ridicule the president, there has been a negative response from civil servants.

Some cartoons and AI-generated images, including showing the president in a coffin, are described as “reckless” and “unsavory”.

Some of the alleged producers of this online content have been the victim of abductions. This, said Profadyora, must be seen by the government as a sign of intolerance.

Lachon Kiplimo, a 23-year-old university student, said that although he supported the president, some of the promises he made are sometimes “unrealistic”, which feeds the nicknames.

He quoted the use of El Chapo, referring to the former Mexican drug lord, after Ruto promised a machine that would produce a million chapatis every day (also known as Chapo in Kenya) to feed school children in the capital.

However, Mr. Kiplimo thinks that the way the president breaks down the monikers and actually seems to embrace them, shows how strong he is.

Prof Manyora believes that the young people who come up with the alternative labels for the president, do it as a form of catharsis, a way to release tension.

This vision is supported by the 24-year-old student Margaret Wairimu Kahura, who said that many Kenyans “have a lot of pain”.

She thinks the spot is a way to let Ruto know how the youth feel.

She says that no other Kenyan president is subject to this level of lantern, and “so this is unique (but) in a bad way”.

It is true that earlier state heads had had nicknames, but they have not been so numerous.

The last president, Uhuru Kenyatta, was called Kamwana (“Young Boy”), Jayden (a Kenyan reference to a spoiled or lazy child) and Wamashati (for his love for printed shirts).

His predecessor, Mwai Kibaki, was known as General Kiguoya (a general who is afraid) and fencing sitter.

Perhaps the era of social media, with its insatiable hunger for new content to keep people amused, has increased the trend to name calls.

But for many, such as Mrs. Kahura, the volume of nicknames for Ruto is a real reflection of “the different problems that people are confronted with”.