Last month, William Ruto was sworn in as Kenya's fifth President. A man who has always dined and wined politically with dynasties and stayed in their shadows, he used the Hustler’s narrative to narrowly win the presidency in a hotly contested election.
Ruto is the second President under the 2010 Constitution, a document he vehemently opposed in a referendum. Perhaps Ruto didn’t know one day he would benefit from the very laws he opposed. The Supreme Court nullified the 2017 victory of the UhuRuto ticket but upheld the Ruto-Gachagua victory in 2022.
President Ruto could choose to uphold, protect and defend the 2010 Constitution or usurp power and destroy the republic. It remains to be seen if his control of both houses of Parliament will take Kenya to a new level of economic prosperity.
World Bank data shows 5.7 per cent of Kenya’s labour force was out of work in 2021, up from 2.8 per cent when the Jubilee administration took over in 2013.
Ruto has portrayed himself as a man of God, he quotes the Bible and makes addresses from the pulpit. Faith is a personal virtue and changing State House into a pulpit or an extension of the Evangelical wing of Christianity in a secular state such as ours is worrisome.
Could it be that by quoting the Bible and dancing to religious songs he is trying to distract us from demanding accountability, transparency and good governance?
The political theorist Samuel Goldman calls this “the law of the conservation of religion”. In any given society, there is a relatively constant and finite supply of religious convictions. By invoking evangelism, he alienates others like me who believe in Islam.
We rarely saw former President Uhuru Kenyatta, a Catholic, mix his religious convictions with his work.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Kenya, adhered to by an estimated 86 per cent of the population. Islam is the second largest religion, practised by 11 per cent of Kenyans. Other faiths practised in Kenya include Baháʼí, Buddhism, Hinduism and traditional religions.
Religion and politics have one common goal: that is to acquire political power and use it to achieve some purpose. However, they use different methods to achieve this objective.
Religion mobilises people's religious sensibilities, while politics uses intrigue, diplomacy and democracy, or power grab in underdeveloped and backward societies.
Religion creates a sense of political authority; its ambition is to exploit it to fulfil a divine mission. Religion claims that it derives authority from divinity and therefore its mission is holy, motivated to reform society under spiritual guidance.
Politics, bereft of any value, directs its policy to the needs and requirements of society and seeks to make laws and establish a system of governance.
We must therefore ask the foundation and fundamental questions: What is the role of religion in public life in a secular state? What does it mean to be a nation? What is the purpose of the state?
Governance and policy analyst based in Mandera county
