Basilio Rukanga
BBC News, Nairobi
Kenyan President William Ruto is a man of many nicknames.
'El Chapo', 'Kasongo', 'Vice President of Jesus' and 'Chicken Seller' are just a few he has acquired in recent years.
As is often the case when people are given nicknames, some are pleasant, others are given to mock someone, and still others give them to express anger towards the 'bearer'.
The history of the president's nicknames indicates how perceptions of him have changed.
Ruto has admitted that he is often 'christened', joking recently that Kenyans 'finish' him with numerous labels.
"They gave me many nicknames. I was born William Kipchirchir Samoei Ruto, and then they went from 'Survivor' to 'Kasongo' [the title of a Congolese song about abandonment and heartbreak].
"Are you going to stop at 10 or are you going to continue (calling me names)?" he asked a crowd at a recent rally in the capital, Nairobi.
He received the answer: "We have more!".
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Before he was elected president in 2022, Ruto's character and sense of humor strengthened his reputation as a 'man of the people'.
Hustler (Hasler) - a Kenyan term for someone who makes a living against the odds - helped portray him as someone who would prioritize the needs of struggling people.
Chicken seller - this nickname was given to him when he said that as a child he hunted fowl in the settlement where he lived, which was familiar to many, so they identified with him.
"They were very positive nicknames. They helped him win votes," political analyst Professor Herman Majora told the BBC.
"He's just a magnet for nicknames," he adds.
However, Ruto's long political career - he was also deputy president for nine years - has also contributed to controversy.
Professor Majora reminds me of a nickname Arap Mashamba ("Son of the Farm") was coined a little less than a decade ago and refers to Ruth's ownership of vast tracts of land across the country.
Many have expressed doubt about how he acquired them.
In 2013, a court ordered Ruto to hand over a 40-hectare farm and to compensate a farmer who accused him of kidnapping it during the 2007 post-election violence.
Ruto has denied any wrongdoing.
Ruto's penchant for quoting lines from the Bible has earned him the nickname 'The Vicar of Jesus'.
They also call him 'Prophet', which is a term for a prophet.
However, since his arrival to the presidency in 2022, the 'nickname makers' have been working overtime - inventing at least a dozen new ones - and have become increasingly critical.
One that stood out was Why? - Swahili name for a biblical figure depicted as a greedy tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus.
Ruto's government has introduced a series of unpopular taxes and many Kenyans have begun to say that he has failed and betrayed them.
"He failed to deliver results after becoming president," said Professor Majora.
New taxes and the impression that the government will waste money are a frequent topic of people's daily conversations.
Last year, young people took to the streets of Nairobi for weeks of protests, which turned deadly, against a new government tax hike proposal that was later rejected.
The chants: "Ruto is leaving", became the main slogan of the demonstrations, and from this came the nickname "Must go" or "The one who leaves" (Must Go).
The creatives did not miss one of the president's favorite things - traveling abroad.
Hence the nickname Vasco da Ganya - a play on words from the name of a 15th-century Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama and the Swahili word danganya, which means "to lie".
Ruto's honesty has also been questioned, giving rise to the nickname Kaunda Uongoman, which is an association with the late Congolese musician Kandu Bongoman.
The first part refers to the president's love of the Kaunda suit - a safari jacket with matching trousers - and Uongoman, which incorporates the Swahili word ungo, meaning "lies".
But it seems the president is not entirely immune to the barrage of verbal attacks.
Government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said the numerous nicknames "are not a cause for concern" in the president's office, but simply "reflect how people view someone."
Ruto is "very practical and doing his best to reform the economy...".
"It is normal for any leader to have many nicknames because it signifies their different attributes and initiatives as a leader," he told the BBC.
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However, when people went beyond making up nicknames and began using satire and art to mock the president, there was a negative reaction from officials.
Some caricatures and images generated by artificial intelligence, including one of the president in a coffin, have been described as "ill-considered" and "in poor taste."
Some of the alleged creators of this online content were victims of kidnappings.
This, says Professor Majora, should be seen as a sign of the government's intolerance.
Lashon Kiplimo, a 23-year-old university student, said that while he supports the president, some of the promises he made were "unrealistic," which has spawned a series of nicknames.
As an example, he cited the nickname 'El Chapo', an allusion to one of the most notorious Mexican criminals and drug lords who are in prison.
Ruto earned the nickname after promising a machine that would produce one million chapatis (also known as chapo in Kenya) every day to feed schoolchildren in the capital.
Kiplimo, however, believes that the way the president rejects nicknames, and actually seems to embrace them, shows how strong he is.
Professor Majora believes that young people who come up with alternative names for presidents do so as a form of catharsis, a way of releasing tension.
This view is supported by 24-year-old student Margaret Wairimu Kahura, who said many Kenyans are suffering.
She believes that mockery is a way for Ruto to understand how young people feel.
"No other Kenyan president has been ridiculed this much. This is a unique case," she says.
Some previous presidents also received nicknames, but they were not as numerous.
The previous president, Uhuru Kenyatta, had nicknames Kamvana ("Boy"), Jaden (a Kenyan reference to a spoiled or lazy child) and You are welcome. (because of his love for printed t-shirts).
His predecessor, Mwai Kibaki, was known as General Quigley (a general who is afraid).
Perhaps the age of social media, with its insatiable appetite for new content to entertain people, has increased the trend of name-calling.
But for many, like Kahura, the number of Ruto's nicknames is a reflection of "the different problems people face."
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