History Repeating Itself - What Ruto Promised Kenyans In 2022 Surfaces Online Amid The High Fuel Prices

Kenyans have a long memory, and social media has made it even longer. An old post by President William Ruto from June 15th 2022 has resurfaced at precisely the most uncomfortable moment possible, and the irony it carries is impossible to ignore.

In the post, then-candidate Ruto told Kenyans that they must bring to a stop an administration that was burdening Kenyans with the high cost of living.

He went further, promising that voting for Kenya Kwanza meant voting for affordable prices of fuel, food, and other basic commodities.

That was June 2022. Today is May 2026, and diesel has just hit Ksh 242.92 per litre following EPRA's latest fuel price increase, which added Ksh 46.29 to the cost of diesel alone.

Kenyans found the contrast between the 2022 promise and the 2026 reality too striking to leave uncommented. The post began circulating again rapidly, gathering fresh reactions from people who remembered casting their votes on the strength of that very message.

The administration that was burdening wananchi with high fuel prices that Ruto was campaigning against in 2022 is now his own. The affordable fuel he promised has not arrived. What has arrived instead is one of the steepest fuel price increases the country has seen.

For many Kenyans who voted Kenya Kwanza with hope in their hearts, watching this old post travel across timelines again is not amusing. It is painful, because it is a reminder of what they were promised and a measure of how far the reality has fallen short.