Photo: DP William Samoei Ruto (Source/Facebook/William Ruto).
It’s no doubt that Chinua Achebe had William Samoei Ruto in mind when he quipped in his book Things Fall Apart that should a child wash his hands, he will sure dine with kings.
Born on 21st December 1966 in a humble attic of Daniel and Sarah Cheruiyot, Ruto broke his own kola nut to be who he is today. His grass to grace tale will be incomplete without mentioning three men who in greater acme of involvement did help Samoei attain greatness.
In earlier 90’s Daniel Arap Moi through a church activity spotted the 'cock' in William and he thrusted him at the centre of Kanu party leadership. Samoei became a treasurer of YK’92 a lobby group which was agitating for Moi re-election. Under Moi’s tutelage, William developed wings and in 1997 he threw his hat into Eldoret North parliamentary race humbling the veteran Reuben Chesire.
Some of the important lessons Ruto learnt in Moi’s school of politics include; Acquisition and retention of power, the power of deep pockets in staging a well oiled presidential campaign, abrasiveness among others. William has never hesitated to showcase them in his career wherever need arises.
Nyayo’s exit from political stage in 2002 saw his political protégé staggering to stand on their feet. Raila Odinga was urgently in need of an army to counter Mwai Kibaki’s draft constitution this propelled him to seek recruits from Moi’s base. Agwambo netted Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, Musalia Mudavadi among others. He deployed them to their respective home turfs and the result was victory in favor of Raila’s NO led team.
Under Raila’s apprenticeship, William learnt to basic mobilization skills and this paved way for his 2007 victory in Rift Valley region when he grabbed the power baton from Moi’s grip becoming the area’s defacto kingpin.
William was a member of ODM pentagon and after the disputed 2007 poll results he went to streets to defend that was stolen from them. From Jakom, Samoei did learn need of fighting tooth and nail to safeguard one’s victory.
In unprecedented turn of events, the relationship between William and Jaramogi’s son turned sour and this saw their bond disintegrating. Fate then brought Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto together prior to 2013 elections.
They joined forces by inter joining their parties [URP and TNA] to form exclusive Jubilee Coalition which romped them to victory with Muigai as the commander in-chief and William his deputy.
Jubilee government has sure taught the son of Sugoi the need to coalesce with influential, resourceful and well established personnel. As 2022 elections draw nigh, it’s evident that the deputy president has amassed volumes of lessons from the aforesaid political operatives and this makes him a political acumen of his own fashion.