On July 5, Kenya’s President William Ruto held a remarkable, two-hour dialogue with leading Generation Z personnel on X Space, after which, just as remarkably, the formerly unrepentant President came away a changed man, recommitting to carry out promises made during the campaign, as well as continuing to engage in dialogue with affected citizens. “Listening to the feedback today on X, I think I need to listen more, I need more empathy and my administration needs more empathy and I have heard you say loudly—more action!”
Gone was the smug, even arrogant demeanor which had characterized Ruto’s post-Black Tuesday (June 25) demonstrations, when he had repeatedly contended that “only 19” demonstrators had been killed by police (officially recognized figures agree on 39), and unilaterally branded other detained protestors as “criminals.” Having received what the Kenya Citizen described as a “bare-knuckle” pummeling on X, both before and during the live confrontation—where youth repeatedly reminded him of the reality of “the 99%,” Ruto agreed to review the excessive spending of his own Kenya Kwanza administration (some “downsizing” has already begun).