From chicken seller to president: William Ruto becomes Kenya’s fifth President

Africa, News September 14, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

William Ruto took oath as Kenya’s new president on September 13, 2022. Ruto took the office almost one month after winning closely contested elections and a week after Supreme Court rejected a challenge from his defeated opponent.

Serving as Deputy President for the last decade, William Ruto is not a new face in Kenya’s political circles. Kenya is a relatively stable economy in the East African region but Ruto’s time in the presidential office would be confronted with a severe economic crisis fueled by the surging food and gas prices as well as high unemployment rates and increasing public debt.

Despite the disapproval of his candidacy from his former boss and outgoing Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, the 55-year-old Ruto contested the elections and won by a thin margin against a seasoned politician, long-time opposition leader, and former prime minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga. Odinga went to Supreme Court to challenge the election results. The Supreme Court rejected the petition on September 5, paving the way for Ruto to become the country’s next president.

Towards the end of his term, Kenyatta was supporting the opposition leader Odinga as his successor. He said that Ruto was “not fit for office”. He also took sides with Odinga to challenge election results in the Supreme Court and accused Ruto of cheating his way to victory. Both sides hurled accusations of corruption and ran rancorous campaigns against each other during the course of the elections.

On the day of his oath-taking ceremony, a jubilant crowd of Ruto’s supporters filled Nairobi’s 60,000-seat Kasarani Sports Centre. People were dressed in party colors wearing yellow and green. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh were also present during the oath-taking ceremony in Nairobi.

From chicken seller to President

Once a roadside chicken seller on the Nairobi-Malaba highway, Ruto became a wealthy businessman before joining mainstream politics. He still owns a large chicken farming business in his hometown of Sugoi.

Ruto’s speeches during his election campaign were filled with his stories of hard work as he carried his “hustler” image at the heart of the campaign. He opened his oath-taking speech with the same statement. “A village boy has become the president of Kenya,” Ruto said at the ceremony as the crowd erupted in cheers.

*^{Supporters of William Ruto celebrate on the street in Nairobi, Kenya on September 5, 2022. (Image Credit: AP Photo/Brian Inganga)}*

Ruto has always portrayed himself and his party, the United Democratic Alliance, as challengers to the wealthy powerful families of Kenya, who have dominated Kenyan politics since 1963. The ‘hustler’ image is also evident in the logo of his party, a wheelbarrow. His message resonated well with the drought-stricken Kenyan public now faced with the severe economic crisis.

His first test in office would be to fulfill his promise to provide 40 million bags of fertilizers at half the price within one week.

During his oath-taking speech, Ruto also pledged to make the police financially independent from the president’s office and to stick to Kenya’s plans to produce 100% clean energy by 2030.