THE BIOGRAPHY OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM RUTO

William Ruto, whose full name is William Samoei Ruto, was born on December 21, 1966, in Sambut, Kenya. He is a Kenyan politician and businessman who has been the country's president since 2022.

BOTH HIS PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC LIVES 

Daniel and Sarah Cheruiyot gave birth to Ruto at Sambut hamlet in Kamagut, which is now in Uasin Gishu county. He has been a member of the African Inland Church since he was young and came from a devout family. 

Before enrolling in Kapsabet High School, Ruto first attended Kerotet Primary School and subsequently Wareng Secondary School. 

He eventually enrolled at the University of Nairobi, where he earned a B.S. in zoology and botany before graduating (1990).

 Later on, he would pick up his studies again at the same college, eventually graduating with an M.S. (2011) and a Ph.D. (2018) in plant ecology. 

Ruto has frequently talked about the poverty he experienced as a young man, describing how for many years he went barefoot and how he made money by selling chickens and peanuts on the side of the road. 

He was able to accumulate a sizeable amount of fortune as an adult through his several business enterprises, which include stakes in the industries of real estate, agricultural, tourism, and insurance.

INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICS 

In 1992, Ruto entered the political arena. He participated in the founding of the Youth for KANU 1992 organization, which backed Daniel arap Moi's campaign for president of the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party, in the run-up to the general election that year. 

Ruto was re-elected to the parliament in 2002 after being originally chosen in 1997. He also briefly served as Moi's minister of home affairs in 2002. 

Ruto made the decision to stay in the party and support Kenyatta's presidential campaign despite a rift within KANU over Moi's selection of Kenyatta as the party's candidate in the 2002 election. Kenyatta was defeated by Mwai Kibaki.

In 2005, Ruto was elected secretary-general of the KANU.

 The administration held a referendum on a new proposed constitution that same year. Ruto was opposed to that constitution and joined forces with well-known individuals from other political parties to fight it.

 They were successful since the new document was defeated by the majority of voters. Ruto declared his intention to run for president the next year, which was not well accepted by KANU.

 As a result, he sought the nomination of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), the coalition that emerged from the alliance that had fought for the 2005 constitution, but Raila Odinga defeated him for the ODM nomination. In October 2007, Ruto formally gave up his position as the secretary-general of the KANU.

2007 ELECTIONS CONTROVERSY, VIOLENT FALLOUT, AND COALITION GOVERNMENT 

Ruto, who is currently a member of the UDA, supported Odinga in his campaign to replace Kibaki as president in the fiercely disputed elections of December 2007. 

Official results revealed that Kibaki had won by a slim margin despite initial findings favoring Odinga. Odinga rejected the results, and international observers questioned them as well. 

Nationwide demonstrations followed, and some of Kenya's many ethnic groups—most notably, the Kikuyu (Kibaki's group), the Kalenjin (Ruto's group), and the Luo (Odinga's group)—were both victims and perpetrators of severe acts of violence. In the weeks-long conflict, more than 1,000 people died and 600,000 people were displaced.

The violence was stopped after months of mediation efforts, and in April 2008 a coalition government was established with Odinga serving as prime minister and Kibaki remaining as president.

 Ruto was appointed minister for the government's agriculture (2008–2010) and higher education (2008–2010) departments (2010–11). Additionally, he kept his position in parliament. 

He quit the ODM after a disagreement with Odinga, briefly finding refuge in the United Democratic Movement, and then joined the United Republican Party in 2012.

In the meantime, a probe into the 2007–2008 postelection violence had been launched by the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

Ruto and Kenyatta were two of the six people whose names were issued by the ICC in December 2010 as being most likely to have started the violence. 

Ruto was accused of planning and executing targeted attacks against the ethnic groups who normally provided Kibaki with a lot of support in January 2012, when he was accused of committing crimes against humanity.

ELECTIONS IN 2013 AND THE ICC TRIAL 

Ruto didn't let his ICC accusations stop him from pursuing his political ambitions. He reconnected with Kenyatta, and the two became known as "UhuRuto."

 The two competed in the March 2013 elections as a multiparty coalition under the name Jubilee Coalition, with Kenyatta running for president and Ruto for vice president. 

Odinga and his running companion, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, were one of seven other pairs of candidates for those positions, but Kenyatta and Ruto won with little more than 50% of the vote.

 After Odinga's challenge to the results was finally rejected, Kenyatta and Ruto were sworn in as president and vice president, respectively, on April 9.

The trial for Ruto and Joshua arap Sang, a radio executive and presenter, began on September 10 at the ICC. 

The case was not concluded by the ICC judges until April 5, 2016, because they believed there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction. However, they did mention "a disturbing occurrence of witness manipulation and intolerable political influence" and stated that Ruto could face retrial by either the ICC or a domestic court in the future. The ICC also ended its investigation into Kenyatta in 2015.

ELECTIONS IN 2017

Ruto and Kenyatta focused on the next general election once their ICC trials were completed. 

With Kenyatta and Ruto contesting for reelection on August 8, 2017, the parties in their Jubilee Coalition reorganized in September 2016, as the Jubilee Party. With more than 54% of the vote, they were successful.

 The closest candidate for president, like in the previous general election, was Odinga, who once more questioned the results. 

This time, however, the Supreme Court nullified the outcomes and ordered a new election, which took place on October 26. Odinga has withdrawn from the election and urged his supporters to boycott it, citing worries over unsolved issues with the voting process.

Despite a relatively low voter turnout, Kenyatta and Ruto once again triumphed, this time by a landslide. They were sworn in for a second term on November 28. Given that he could only hold the office for two terms under the constitution, it would be Kenyatta's final one. On the other hand, Ruto was now in a good position to be the party's next nominee for president.

THE STRANGE MENT FROM KENYATTA 

Ruto and Kenyatta's friendship significantly deteriorated during his second stint as deputy president.

 On the other hand, the president and Odinga surprisingly made up in 2018 and afterwards worked together on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) task committee that investigated the issues the nation was experiencing and put forward solutions. 

Ruto's estrangement from Kenyatta was made worse by their prominent cooperation, which also led to the loss of his position as the presumed presidential succession. 

Ruto was one of the opponents of the constitutional amendment measure that included the BBI's proposals because he believed it would be too expensive to implement and was a political power play. He was also among those who rejoiced when the law was decided in March 2022.

ELECTIONS IN 2022

Kenya had undergone a significant political transformation by the time of the general election in August 2022. In the Kenya Kwanza coalition of political parties, Ruto, who had left the Jubilee Party, was now the presidential nominee for the United Democratic Alliance. 

Kenyatta openly abandoned Ruto as his running mate in February, saying he was unqualified to serve as president and backing Odinga in his place. Additionally endorsing Odinga, the Jubilee Party joined his Azimio la Umoja coalition.

Ruto and Odinga were the front-runners among the four candidates seeking for the president. Ruto referred to common Kenyans who struggled to go ahead and had to work hard to make ends meet as "hustlers" during the campaign. 

He presented the election as a contest between himself and other "hustlers" and the powerful political families that Odinga and Kenyatta belonged to. After the voting on August 9, the head of the electoral commission declared Ruto the winner of the presidential race. He received 50.49 percent of the vote, beating out Odinga, who received 48.85 percent, as his closest rival.

Initially, however, Ruto's triumph was tainted by doubt because Odinga refused to recognize the results and once again chose to file a challenge with the Supreme Court, and four of the seven electoral commissioners disavowed the results before they were made public. 

As no convincing proof of fraud had been offered, the Court upheld the results on September 5. On September 13, Ruto became the next president.