Since independence, each election cycle in Kenya has seen rival political camps frame the contest with messaging designed to win the hearts and minds of voters.
Apart from ethnic-based political rhetoric, sloganeering has greatly contributed to election conquests at all cadres of leadership positions from across the board.
A campaign slogan is a purified version of a campaign theme that makes a clear distinction between politicians and their opponents.
Slogans are used as short ideas and can be for or against any particular political issue.
They provide politicians with an ingenious way to advertise and promote political ideas.
Kenyans.co.ke takes you down memory lane to relive some of the political slogans that got Kenyans talking in 2022.
Hatupangwingwi
The slogan was adopted by the then Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate William Ruto after the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) listed the phrase 'sipangwingwi" as one of the hate speech terms in the 2022 elections.
Ruto used the term ‘hatupangwingwi’ to mean Kenyans must be allowed to elect leaders of their choice without being intimidated, choreographed, or blackmailed by the ‘Deep State’.
Inawezekana
Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga christened the term ‘Inawezekana’ as his campaign message for the 2022 elections.
Odinga used the term as a message of hope, possibility and positivity that his coalition promised Kenyans if elected to power.
Tingiza Miti
This was the campaign slogan of the Roots Party of Kenya led by its Presidential Candidate George Luchiri Wajackoyah.
Explaining the meaning of the slogan during his manifesto launch, Wajackoyah stated that it meant shaking away all negativities affecting Kenyans.
He is famous for proposing four working days and the legalization of bhang for commercial and therapeutic purposes.
Freedom is Coming
This campaign slogan was used by President William Ruto as the final rallying call to his support base.
In his final submissions in the run-up to election day, Ruto declared that Kenya doesn't belong to a few.
“Today we're witnessing history. Freedom is coming!” he remarked.
"The people of Kenya will prevail and we will have a nation that will not leave anyone behind,” he added.
Dynasties Vs Hustlers
Within the Kenyan political context, the term ‘hustler’ is associated with unemployed youth, struggling to survive in a harsh economic environment.
They are known to come from poor and low-income families and are eager to engage in all manner of income-generating activities to earn a living.
Conversely, ‘dynasties’ are wealthy political families that have enjoyed the benefits of power stretching back to the 1960s when Kenya gained independence.
Ruto coined the phrase ‘Hustler Nation’ to represent people like him who do not come from wealthy or well-connected families.
He claimed his father was unknown and poor and that due to poverty, he went to school barefoot and that he hustled his way up by hawking chicken.
