Given the political and economic landscape of Kenya, dynasty is also coded as male, with lineages of power carried on by men as is common elsewhere in the world.Ī sense of marginalisation and disempowerment, particularly acute amongst low-income men, can help explain why the hustler-dynasty narrative resonates. In my own research, though the informal economy is easy on no one, I found that young men were much more likely to describe themselves as hustlers or use hustling to describe their means of getting by.
In particular, there is a gendered dimension to the term “hustling”. The hustler-dynasty frame is no exception it resonates for reasons beyond class. Hustlers are not victims, pure and simple, they are strivers.įurthermore, politics of grievance are never about one axis of inequality, even if that is what appears on the surface. Scholars of Kenya’s “ hustle economy”, such as Tatiana Thieme, describe how there is an appealing form of agency in the hustler identity. He invites his supporters to put behind them their usual focus on regional and linguistic tribal solidarity, and to embrace what amounts to a neo-Marxist theoretical framework that gives them a new identity as the betrayed and longsuffering ‘wretched of the earth’.”īut Ruto uses the term “hustlers”, rather than “the poor”, and that seems to be a key distinction. Wycliffe Muga, a columnist of the Star newspaper, wrote, “Dr Ruto is offering the great majority of Kenyans (who are most definitely poor) a new form of identity politics. While ethnicity has been the dominant dividing line in Kenyan politics, some argue that a new language of “hustlers versus dynasty” suggests the emergence of a more class-based politics While ethnicity has been the dominant dividing line in Kenyan politics, some argue that a new language of “hustlers versus dynasty” suggests the emergence of a more class-based politics. Also part of the so-called dynasty team is Gideon Moi, the son of Kenya’s longest-serving president, Daniel arap Moi. Both grew up comfortably and studied internationally after secondary school, Kenyatta in the US and Odinga in Germany. Odinga is the son of the country’s first vice president, Jaramogi Odinga.
Kenyatta is the son of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta. In contrast, President Kenyatta and his former rival Odinga can boast of few hustler credentials. Ruto’s humble background is well known – he talks of how he went to school barefoot, getting his first pair of shoes when he was about 15, and worked as a young man selling chickens by the side of the road. Scorned and looking to bolster his position against the current president, Ruto labelled Kenyatta’s brand of politics as “dynasty” in contrast with his own hustler identity, one that he has long embraced, despite his now substantial wealth.
He invited his former political rival Raila Odinga to the presidential office and after a private meeting, the two men publicly sealed their new partnership with the now famous “handshake”. Then, in March 2018, Kenyatta reversed course. Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s current president, had agreed that he would support Ruto’s candidacy for the next presidential election in 2022. The phrase “hustlers versus dynasty” was coined by Deputy President William Ruto, following a political upset. He advocated for quick, strong action, saying, “If this is not properly handled, it could lead the country the Rwanda way in 2022.” According to an article in Kenya’s Daily Nation paper, the chairman of NCIC, Dr Samuel Kobia, said that the hustler-dynasty debate “risks plunging the country into chaos”. The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), founded after the post-election violence that took place in Kenya in 2007–2008, appears to be in favour. Can combative language about class be categorised as hate speech? Kenyan politics is grappling with this question as a language of “hustlers versus dynasty” grips the country.Ī committee of members of parliament has put forward a bill to include class, termed “social status”, in the document, along with ethnicity as an inexcusable form of incitement.