Why do president Kenya attracts so much nicknames

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

Deputy Jesus, El -Chap, Hastler and Chicken are just the ones he has acquired in recent years.

As is often the case when people are given alternative nicknames, some kind, but some are designed to bully and reflect deep anger.

The history of the President’s pseudonyms offers a window how his perception has changed.

Ruto acknowledged the tendency to replenish, recently joking that Kenyans “end up” it with many labels.

“You gave me so many names. I had the name of William Kiphirchir Sameei Ruto. You added Survivor … Zakayo … Now you are in the Kasongngo (the name of the Congolese song about the refusal and rupture of the heart). Do you stop in Ten, or should I prepare for more?” He recently asked.

A crowd at a rally in the Nairobi capital replied that they had even more.

Before he was elected president in 2022, Ruto attracted the handles that strengthened his reputation by the people.

Hustler – Kenyan Parliament for who earns a life against the chances – helped reflect him as a person who would prefer the needs in the fight.

The seller from the chicken, referring to his childhood when he hooked the bird on the road, resonated with many who saw his life as his own embodiment.

“These were very positive (names). They sold it to the society in terms of votes,” said Professor Herman Merman Miyaro, claiming that they helped catapult him to higher work.

“The names really stick to Ruto,” he added.

But the president has long been a high -profile figure in Kenyan politics, including the deputy president for nine years until 2022 and has never been far from disputes.

Professor Manor recalls Label Aap Mahamba – who translates as “Son of Ferme” – invented a little less than a decade ago and is related to the right of ownership of Ruto to large sections of the land all over the country. The concern was caused by how some of them were acquired.

In 2013, the court ordered Ruto to hand over the farm of 100 acres (40 hectares) and offset the farmer who accused him of delighting him during the 2007 election. He denied any violations.

Ruto’s sympathant, the deputy label of Jesus, also brought him to the biblical poems.

However, since its rise to the presidency, the nickname manufacturers work overtime – at least a dozen – and they are becoming more critical.

The one that stands out is Zakoya – Swahili for the name of Zakheya, a biblical figure, which is reflected as a greedy tax collector that rose to the tree to see Jesus.

The Ruto government caused a raft of unpopular taxes, and many Kenyans began to say that it betrayed “noisy”.

“He could not deliver after becoming president,” said Professor Manor.

Pain from paying more taxes and opinions that extra money will be wasted, often the focus of talk.

Last year, the youth took to Nairobi Street during the weeks of protests that became deadly against a fresh government proposal to raise taxes that had fallen.

Specific from the chant “Ruto has to go” became a cohesive call for demonstrators, and now it is necessary to go, has become another way to designate the leader.

Creative Christian also focused on saying that the president uses foreign travel.

Hence the Vasco da Ganya headline – a play in the name of a Portuguese researcher of the 15th century, a gamma and a word swahili danangya, which means “lying”.

Ruto’s honesty was also questioned by Cowonda Wongoman, which imitates the late Congolese musician Kondo Bongman.

The first part refers to the love of the president to the Cowunda costume – a safari -tuft with the appropriate pants – and Uongoman, which includes the word Swahili, which means “lies”.

But the president seems impenetrable for this volley of verbal attacks.

A press secretary of the Government of Isaac Mwaura said the nicknames “did not cause concern” in the president’s office, but simply “seizing the way people see.”

Ruto ‘very manually and does his best to convert the economy … It is normal for any leader to have a lot of nicknames, because it means its different attributes and initiatives as a leader, “he said.

Mwaura also claimed that, despite the nickname Zakoye, the government had to raise taxes to pay new projects, reduce budget deficit and correct the economy.

However, when people went beyond the inventing new names and used satire and forms of art to make fun of the president, there was a negative reaction of officials.

Some cartoons and images generated by AI, including the president in the box, were described as “ill -advised” and “unpleasant”.

Some of the alleged manufacturers of this online content were victims of abductions. Prof.

A 23-year-old university student Lahon Kipling said that by supporting the president, some of the promises he made, sometimes “unrealistic”, which fueled the nicknames.

He cited the use of El -Chap, citing former Mexican drug Lord, after Ruto promised a car that produced a million Chapatis every day (also known as a chapon in Kenya) to feed schoolchildren in the capital.

Mr. Kiplimo believes that the way the president postpones the nicknames, and he seems to be perceived, shows how strong he is.

Professor Manor believes that young people who come up with alternative presidential inscriptions do so as a form of catharsis, a way of freeing tension.

This opinion is backed up by a 24-year-old student Margaret Varym Kakhura, who said that many Kenyans were “very ached”.

She feels the mockery is a way to tell Ruto to know how young people feel.

He says that no other Kenyan president was exposed to this Lampooning level, and “so it is unique (but) in a bad sense.”

It is true that the previous heads of state had nicknames, but they were not so numerous.

The last president, Uhuru Kenya, was called Kamwan (“Young Boy”), Juden (Kenyan reference to nurture or lazy child) and Vomashi (for the love of printed shirts).

His predecessor was known as General Kiguy (a afraid) and fences.

Perhaps the age of social media with its insatiable appetite for new content, so that people will entertain, increase the tendency to call.

But for many, like Mrs. Kakhura, the volume of nicknames for Ruto is a real reflection of “different problems that people face.”