Kenya Elections 2022: What's Next
On August 15, William Ruto was declared president-elect of Kenya. His chief competitor, Raila Odinga, rejected the results and says he will go to court to seek their invalidation.
The talk show guests said that the conduct of the polls improved compared to the last vote in 2017.
They said the fact that Mr Ruto has portrayed himself as someone who - having once sold chickens and groundnuts by the roadside - understands the plight of the poor, and will champion their interests if elected.
"While we are busy planning how the lowest Kenyan will be uplifted, some other operatives are busy in hotels planning how to install a puppet president who they will control, as they want, so that their selfish interests continue being served," Mr Ruto once said at a rally - lines that he often repeated and which were dismissed as untrue by his opponents.
Mr Ruto has focused heavily on winning over the youth - not surprising as the official rate of unemployment among those aged between 18 and 34 years is nearly 40%, and the economy is not creating enough jobs to absorb the 800,000 young people joining the workforce every year.
Mr Ruto has therefore coined the phrase "Hustler Nation" to refer to the young people struggling to make ends meet, and has promised a "bottom-up approach" to the economy, saying it will benefit the poor.
The analysts said that new president will face challenges in confronting regional instability, youth unemployment, inflation, and the economic consequences of both the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The 2017 election was so marred by irregularities, including rigging, that Kenya's highest court annulled the result - and ordered a fresh one that Mr Kenyatta won after Mr Odinga boycotted it.
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