President William Ruto’s recent promise to buy a chapati-making machine has earned him a new nickname “El-Chapo” or Nairobi students has left Kenyans scratching their heads and cracking jokes.
The pledge, made at St. Teresa Girls Secondary School in Mathare during his development tour of Nairobi, has become an internet sensation — but not for the reasons the President might have hoped.
It all started when Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, in his quest to elevate the city’s Dishi na County school feeding program, requested a machine that could churn out a million chapatis daily for the 300,000 kids benefiting from the initiative.
President William Ruto, ever the man of action, agreed, saying, “I have agreed to buy a chapati-making machine. Governor, your job now is to find where to buy it.”
But not everyone is laughing with Ruto. Many Kenyans have dismissed the chapati machine promise as a PR stunt that misses the mark on pressing issues.
Social media erupted with ridicule, calling the initiative a “non-priority” in the face of real national concerns.
The jokes came thick and fast, with Ruto being dubbed “El-Chapo” — a play on both chapati and the notorious Mexican drug lord.
Memes flooded the internet, with users imagining all kinds of wild scenarios about how one machine could possibly make a million chapatis in a day.
One user questioned the practicality of the plan: “How’s this machine going to handle the sheer volume of chapati?”
Meanwhile, some people were frustrated with the lack of focus on more immediate issues like Nairobi’s flooding crisis.
“Instead of fixing the drainage system, we’re getting chapati machines?” one user lamented.
Kenyans, ever the creative bunch, turned the chapati debate into a full-blown meme contest, with users vying for the best punchline.
It seems the real priority for many is not the machine, but the meme-making opportunities it’s sparked.
Despite the mockery and growing concerns over unfulfilled promises, Ruto remains steadfast, continuing to make grand pledges — some of which seem destined to join the long list of “unfulfilled promises” that often follow political leaders’ speeches.
