Building up from my previous article, Ruto’s rise and the making of modern day autocrats, it is now clear: modern autocrats do not promise utopia, they erase the very idea of it. They don’t inspire people to build a better world; they train them to stop imagining one. The goal is not hope, but hopelessness. A citizen who believes change is impossible will never demand it.
Autocratic governments promote passivity, cynicism, and political numbness. Citizens are taught to mind their own business, stay out of politics, and abandon any democratic alternatives. In Kenya, this tactic is on full display.
For example, David Ndii, chief economic adviser to Ruto once tweeted: “Let me restate. We will leave Kenya as corrupt as we found it. On this Sunday I suggest you contemplate your own life and leave the other sinners to contemplate theirs.”
President Ruto, constantly urges Kenyans to “live within their means” while his own administration flaunts wealth and privilege. During elections, we’re told not to expect visionary leadership, but simply to pick the “lesser evil.” But this isn’t just political messaging, it’s psychological warfare.
Lies, contradictions, and distortions
Political scientist Lisa Wedeen, in her study of Syria, showed how the Assad regime told lies so absurd like claiming Syria was a top tourist destination at the height of civil war that no one could possibly believe them. But the lies were not meant to persuade. They were meant to show power. These “national fictions” existed to say: we can lie to your face, and you can do nothing about it.
In Kenya today, we are witnessing a similar strategy.
In the Ruto administration, lies are told blatantly, repeatedly, and shamelessly. And when they’re exposed, no effort is made to defend them. The President will deny that abductions ever happened and when confronted with evidence, he doubles down with even bigger lies. Just this week, he claimed that everyone abducted was “returned safely to their families,” contradicting his earlier statement that there were no abductions.
It’s hard to keep up. Remember the promise of a six kilogramme cooking gas cylinder for Sh300? Or the vision of Nairobi River so clean we could finally become fishermen in the city? These are not broken promises— they are deliberate disinformation.
This tactic, “fire hose of falsehoods”, a strategy that overwhelms people with so many lies, contradictions, and distortions that they give up trying to discern the truth. It doesn’t produce outrage, it produces nihilism. And that’s exactly the point.
Demand accountability from politicians
If you’re bombarded with conflicting narratives, how can you know what’s real? If nothing makes sense, how can you take action? Why bother trying to change a system when you’re not even sure what’s going on?
In this fog of confusion, you don’t join a movement for democracy. You don’t follow truth-telling leaders or listen when anyone speaks about positive political change. Instead, you settle for the “lesser devil.” We see this playing out in Kenya today, where despite having candidates of integrity and a proven track record, many voters still gravitate toward those with questionable political histories. Leaders who, when previously in power, governed exactly like the current regime and yet are now framed as the only alternative. That is how autocrats win, not by force alone, but by drowning out truth in a sea of noise. By making you believe that nothing matters, and that no one can be trusted.
Kenyans deserve better leaders. But we will not get better leadership by hoping. We must demand accountability from politicians. We must reward true leadership at the ballot. And most importantly, we must resist the temptation to be cynical and hopeless.
Still, there is a silver lining in this dark cloud. Generation Z and many other well-meaning Kenyans are refusing to let the political class off the hook. They are calling out the President and the ruling elite for their hypocrisy.
The writer is a management consultant, whistleblower and active citizen
