Let me start by saying that Ruto is not unbeatable. However, his chances of re-election are very much possible, largely due to two main reasons.
- The Character of the Man
David Ndii once described Ruto as a “megalomaniac psychopath.” A megalomaniac is someone with an unnatural, obsessive desire for power, wealth, and fame. Such individuals are willing and capable of doing anything to achieve their goals. They are highly manipulative and deceitful. Now, imagine such a person controlling state resources and machinery? Consider the lengths he could go to retain power? Very frightening!
- The Spirit of Stupidity That Possesses Kenyan Voters During Elections
Stupidity is not a lack of knowledge - that is ignorance.
According to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, stupidity is the willful rejection of irrefutable facts and truth. He further argued that stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of good than evil. While we can protest or fight against evil, we are virtually powerless against stupidity. Reason falls on deaf ears, and facts contradicting stupid reasoning are ignored or trampled upon.
You can confront evil by arresting, jailing, or even killing an evil person. But can you do the same to a stupid person? No!
Bonhoeffer concluded by writing, “Against stupidity, we are defenseless.”
Another critical aspect is that stupidity is not an individual flaw but a social or a group disease. People are not stupid in isolation; rather, in groups, they succumb to peer pressure and negative influences, losing their moral reasoning.
Stupidity within groups (ethnic, religious, etc.) is fueled by propaganda, lies, hatred, fear, and selfish interests.
This explains why, in 2022, a majority of Kikuyus voted for Ruto not because they liked him, but because they were conditioned through propaganda to fear and hate Raila and the Luos.
The same collective stupidity will likely repeat itself in 2027. Luos and other stupid Kenyans, like Banyamulenge, will vote for Ruto not because he is a good leader (everyone knows that Ruto is irredeemably corrupt and unfit to be president) but out of propagated fear and hatred toward perceived Kikuyu hegemony many Kenyans will vote for Ruto and help him secure his second term.
Finally, according to Carlo Cipolla’s third law of human stupidity, he states “A stupid person is someone who causes losses to another person or a group of people while deriving no gain and even possibly suffering losses themselves.”
