Peter Mbae: Ruto’s outrage is a decoy to distract Kenyans from protest deaths
By Steve Ireri, July 10, 2025Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) Secretary for Planning and Economic Affairs Peter Mbae has dismissed President William Ruto’s public display of anger over recent protests as a political diversion aimed at shifting public attention away from Kenya’s real problems, including the rising number of civilian deaths during demonstrations.
According to Mbae, the president’s narrative that there is a plot to remove him from office is not only unfounded but deliberately calculated to win public sympathy.
Speaking during an interview with a local TV station on Thursday, July 10, 2025, he argued that the outcry over an alleged planned coup mirrors past political tactics used to stoke fear and consolidate power.
“I want Kenyans from today, please — this issue of ‘there are people who want to remove me from office’ is a decoy. It is diversionary. It is meant to remove Kenyans from the main issues,” he said.
He questioned how the president could claim to be under attack while failing to acknowledge the 31 bodies lying in mortuaries as a result of recent protests.
“Nobody mentions them. People are so angry about the protest deaths. There are so many who have died,” he added.
Mbae further suggested that President Ruto is following a familiar script from Kenya’s political history, comparing the current moment to events following the failed 1982 coup against then-President Daniel arap Moi.
“When the coup happened, Moi clung on that coup — literally — and tried to show that there were some people behind it. That is how suppression started: detention without trial,” he noted.
He recalled how Moi used that period to frame political tensions as tribal hostility, claiming that the Kikuyu and Luo communities did not want him in power.
“That’s what even caused Moi to win for two terms as a minority. Now this is exactly what is happening,” he stated.
Turning to the president’s recent press address, where he declared that “enough is enough,” Mbae questioned the basis of the statement.
He wondered aloud who the “enough” was directed at and what it was supposed to mean, suggesting that the president had failed to clearly articulate the real cause of his frustration.
He claimed that the president is reacting out of frustration because many of his strategies have failed to take hold.
“I think what happened yesterday with the president, in a nutshell, is because the things he has been planning have not been working,” he said.
Mbae also criticised Ruto’s emotional tone, arguing that a head of state has no business expressing anger in public.
He noted that the president appears out of touch with the demands of his office, arguing that no head of state should publicly display raw emotion, as doing so signals a lack of control and raises doubts about his ability to lead.
“As a president, you are not supposed to get angry. You are not supposed to exhibit it. You can get angry inside your chambers, but you cannot get angry outside. So you are getting angry with whom, and for what?” he posed.
He concluded by urging the president to show direction and leadership rather than heightening tensions.
“You are the president. You should be able to speak and show direction,” he said.