New Kenyan President William Ruto has fought his way to the top as the nation’s “hustler-in-chief,” playing on his religious beliefs and humble beginnings by selling roadside chickens.
Despite being one of the richest men in the country and plagued by corruption allegations for years, the highly ambitious Ruto presented himself as a champion of the poor and downtrodden during the August 9 election campaign.
He won a narrow victory over veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, despite running as an effective challenger after a bitter falling out with outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, who backed his rival in the hard-fought race.
“By becoming Kenya’s fifth president, William Ruto symbolizes a determination to overcome adversity,” said Kenyan historian Macharia Munene in an op-ed for The Standard newspaper on the eve of his swearing-in.
Ruto, who served as deputy president under Kenyatta for nearly a decade, has vowed to reach out to his rivals in the deeply divided country to address its deep economic woes and endemic corruption.
“There’s no place for revenge,” said the seedy rags-to-riches businessman after being declared president-elect during his first run for office.
He had described the election as a battle between ordinary “hustlers” fighting to get food on the table and the elite Kenyatta and Odinga “dynasties” who had dominated Kenyan politics for decades.
“We want everyone to feel the wealth of this country. Not just a few at the top,” Ruto had said as he criss-crossed the country promoting his “bottom-up” economic plan.
– Effective strategist –
The outgoing president only publicly congratulated Ruto on the eve of his inauguration, which takes place on Tuesday, after the 55-year-old backed his boss in the last two elections by promising he would have Kenyatta’s support this time.
Their now-broken alliance was a marriage of convenience forged after deadly post-election violence in 2007-2008 that pitted the Kikuyu – Kenyatta’s tribe – largely against the Kalenjin, Ruto’s ethnic group.
Both men have been charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with fueling the ethnic unrest that has killed more than 1,100 people.
The cases were eventually dropped, and prosecutors complained about a relentless campaign to intimidate witnesses.
But Ruto was left out in the cold after Kenyatta shook hands with longtime foe Odinga in 2018 in a dramatic switch of political allegiance.
He hit back with a campaign aimed at Kenyatta as much as his ballot box rival, blaming the government for Kenya’s economic woes and even accusing the president of threatening him and his family.
Dressed in the bright yellow of his United Democratic Alliance, whose symbol is the humble wheelbarrow, Ruto sought to reach those suffering most from the Covid-induced cost of living crisis, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
“He managed to invade and defeat the college club, partly because the dynasties disdainfully underestimated him,” Munene wrote.
– ‘God was kind to me’ –
Observers attribute Ruto’s aggressiveness to the fact that he has had to fight to get everything he has achieved in life since his humble beginnings in Kenya’s Rift Valley, the heartland of Kalenjin.
“As a kid, I sold chickens at a railroad crossing near my house… I paid[school]fees for my siblings,” he once said.
“God has been kind to me and through hard work and determination I have achieved something.”
His fortune is now said to be in the many millions of dollars, with interests that include hotels, real estate and insurance, as well as a massive chicken farm.
A teetotal father of six who describes himself as a born-again Christian, Ruto rarely lets a speech go by without giving thanks or praise to God or reciting from the Bible.
In 1992 he first entered the political ladder – and critics claim access to funds.
After studying botany, he led the YK’92 youth movement tasked with campaigning for the autocratic then-President Daniel arap Moi, also a Kalenjin.
In 1997, when he tried to launch his parliamentary career by fighting for a seat in his home region of Eldoret North, Moi told him he was a disrespectful son of a poor man.
Undeterred, Ruto went on to secure the seat, which he retained in subsequent elections.
His detractors say he siphoned money from the YK’92 project and did business with it, and allegations of corruption and land grabbing still hang on him.
But he has long denied such claims, once telling local media, “I am accountable for every coin I have.”
