William Ruto facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Ruto
CGH
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Ruto in 2023
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| 5th President of Kenya | |
| Assumed office 13 September 2022 |
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| Deputy | Rigathi Gachagua |
| Preceded by | Uhuru Kenyatta |
| 11th Deputy President of Kenya | |
| In office 9 April 2013 – 13 September 2022 |
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| President | Uhuru Kenyatta |
| Preceded by | Kalonzo Musyoka |
| Succeeded by | Rigathi Gachagua |
| Minister for Higher Education | |
| In office 21 April 2010 – 19 October 2010 |
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| President | Mwai Kibaki |
| Prime Minister | Raila Odinga |
| Preceded by | Sally Kosgei |
| Succeeded by | Hellen Jepkemoi Sambili (acting) |
| 16th Minister for Agriculture | |
| In office 17 April 2008 – 21 April 2010 |
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| President | Mwai Kibaki |
| Prime Minister | Raila Odinga |
| Preceded by | Kipruto Arap Kirwa |
| Succeeded by | Sally Kosgei |
| Minister for Home Affairs | |
| In office 30 August 2002 – December 2002 |
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| President | Daniel arap Moi |
| Preceded by | George Saitoti |
| Succeeded by | Moody Awori |
| Member of Parliament for Eldoret North |
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| In office 29 December 1997 – 9 April 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Reuben Chesire |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
William Kipchirchir Arap Ruto
21 December 1966 Kamagut, Kenya |
| Political party | United Democratic Alliance (2021–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
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| Spouse |
Rachel Chebet
(m. 1991) |
| Children | 7, including Charlene |
| Residence | State House |
| Education | University of Nairobi (BSc, MSc, PhD) |
| Signature |  |
William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto CGH (born 21 December 1966) is a Kenyan politician who is the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served as the first elected deputy president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. Previously, holders of the position were referred to as Vice President and the officeholder was unelected and appointed by the President. He previously served in three cabinet portfolios as the Minister for Home Affairs, the Minister of Agriculture and as Minister for Higher Education.
Ruto was elected Member of Parliament for Eldoret North constituency from 1997 to 2007 under the KANU, and from 2007 to 2013 through the ODM party. He was the Minister for Home Affairs in the Daniel arap Moi administration from August to December 2002.
Under the Mwai Kibaki administration, he was the Minister for Agriculture from 2008 to 2010 and Minister for Higher Education from April to October 2010. Ruto first contested for the presidency during the 2007 election, but lost to Raila Odinga on the ODM party primaries; together with Musalia Mudavadi, who finished second, he then supported the candidature of Odinga. He again ran for the presidency on the 2013 election, but withdrew his candidature in favour of Uhuru Kenyatta.
He was later nominated to run for the deputy presidency in the 2013 election under the United Republican Party, becoming the running mate of Uhuru Kenyatta from The National Alliance (TNA). He was re-elected to the deputy presidency under the Jubilee Party in the 2017 Kenyan general election. Ruto successfully ran for the presidency in the 2022 election, this time under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
Amidst a fall-out, Kenyatta supported his opponent Raila Odinga. The election was marred by allegations of electoral fraud by allies of Odinga, although international observers have not corroborated such claims.
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Early life and education
A member of the Kalenjin people of the Rift Valley Province, William Ruto was born on 21 December 1966 in Sambut village, Kamagut, Uasin Gishu County, to Daniel Cheruiyot and Sarah Cheruiyot.
Education
Ruto started his education at Kamagut Primary School, then transferred to Kerotet Primary School—both situated within the Uasin Gishu County; and he sat for his Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) at the latter. He then proceeded to Wareng Secondary School, still in Uasin Gishu County, and later Kapsabet High School in Nandi County, where he obtained his Ordinary Level and Advanced Level education respectively.
He then enrolled at the University of Nairobi to pursue Botany and Zoology, graduating in 1990 with a BSc. He went on to complete an MSc in Plant Ecology, also from the University of Nairobi. The year after his graduation, he enrolled for a Ph.D. at the same university, and after several setbacks, he completed and graduated on 21 December 2018.
Ruto authored several papers, including one titled Plant Species Diversity and Composition of Two Wetlands in the Nairobi National Park, Kenya.
During his time in the campus for his undergraduate education, Ruto was an active member of the Christian Union. He also served as the Chairman of the University of Nairobi's choir. Through his church activities at the University of Nairobi, he met President Daniel arap Moi, who would later introduce him to politics during the 1992 general elections.
Political career
After graduating from the University of Nairobi in 1990, Ruto was employed as a temporary teacher in the North Rift region of Kenya from 1990 to 1992, where he was also a leader of the local church choir, the Africa Inland Church (AIC).
YK'92
Ruto began his political career when he became the treasurer of the YK'92 campaign group that was lobbying for the re-election of President Moi in 1992, from which he learned the basics of Kenyan politics. He is also believed to have accumulated some wealth in this period. After the 1992 elections, President Moi disbanded YK'92 and Ruto unsuccessfully vied for various branch-level positions in KANU, which was at that time Kenya's ruling party.
Member of Parliament
Ruto ran for a parliamentary seat in the 1997 general election. He surprisingly beat the incumbent, Reuben Chesire, Moi's preferred candidate, as well as the Uasin Gishu KANU branch chairman and assistant minister. He later gained favour with Moi and was appointed KANU Director of Elections. His strong support in 2002 for Moi's preferred successor, Uhuru Kenyatta, saw him get a place as assistant minister in the Home Affairs (Interior) ministry. Later in that election, when some government ministers resigned to join the opposition, he was promoted to full Cabinet Minister. KANU lost the election but he retained his parliamentary seat. Ruto was elected KANU Secretary General in 2005, with Uhuru Kenyatta elected as chairman.
In 2005, Kenya held a referendum on a new constitution, which KANU opposed. Some members of the ruling NARC coalition government, mainly former KANU ministers who had joined the opposition coalition in 2002 under the LDP banner and who were disgruntled as President Kibaki had not honored a pre-election MoU on power-sharing and creation of a Prime Minister post, joined KANU to oppose the proposed constitution. Since the symbol of the "No" vote was an Orange, this new grouping named their movement the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Ruto was part of its top brass, dubbed the Pentagon. He solidified his voter base in the Rift Valley Province. ODM was victorious in the referendum.
In January 2006, Ruto declared publicly that he would vie for the presidency in the next general election (2007). His statement was condemned by some of his KANU colleagues, including former president Moi. By this time, ODM had morphed into a political party. Ruto sought the nomination of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) as its presidential candidate, but on 1 September 2007, he placed third with 368 votes. The winner was Raila Odinga with 2,656 votes and the runner-up was Musalia Mudavadi with 391. Ruto expressed his support for Odinga after the vote. As KANU under Uhuru Kenyatta moved to support Kibaki, he resigned from his post as KANU secretary general on 6 October 2007.
The presidential election of December 2007 ended in an impasse. Kenya's electoral commission declared Kibaki the winner, but Raila and ODM claimed the victory. Mwai Kibaki was hurriedly sworn in as the president of the December 2007 presidential election. Following the election and the dispute over the result, Kenya was engulfed by a violent political crisis. Kibaki and Odinga agreed to form a power-sharing government. In the grand coalition Cabinet named on 13 April 2008 and sworn in on 17 April, Ruto was appointed as Minister for Agriculture. Ruto also became the Eldoret North's Member of Parliament from 2008 to 4 March 2013.
On 21 April 2010, Ruto was transferred from the Agriculture Ministry and posted to the Higher Education Ministry, swapping posts with Sally Kosgei. On 24 August 2011, Ruto was relieved of his ministerial duties but remained a member of parliament. He joined with Uhuru Kenyatta to form the Jubilee alliance for the 2013 presidential election.
Deputy presidency
Acting president
On 6 October 2014, Ruto was appointed acting president of Kenya by the then President Uhuru Kenyatta following his summons to appear before the ICC. He served in the role between 6 and 9 October 2014 while President Kenyatta was away at The Hague. When he officially handed over power to Ruto at the Parliament on October 6, Uhuru explained, "To protect the sovereignty of the Republic of Kenya, I will sign a legal notice appointing Hon William Ruto as acting president while I attend the status conference."
In the August 2017 General Elections, Uhuru and Ruto were declared victors after garnering 54% of the total votes cast. However, the Supreme Court of Kenya nullified the election, and a fresh election was held in October 2017. The opposition boycotted the fresh election and Uhuru and Ruto were re-elected with 98% of the total votes cast. The Supreme Court upheld the results of this second election.
Presidential campaign
In December 2020 Ruto announced his alliance with the newly formed United Democratic Alliance party. He was the only presidential candidate to attend the second part of the 2022 presidential debate.
On 15 August 2022, six days after the general election held on 9 August, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chair Wafula Chebukati announced that Ruto had won the presidential election, defeating candidate Raila Odinga of the Azimio La Umoja party. Ruto received 50.49% of the valid votes cast, while Odinga received 48.85%.
Odinga disputed the presidential election results announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, and he challenged the results with the Supreme Court. On 5 September, the Supreme Court judges unanimously found that evidence presented by Odinga's campaign inconclusive and upheld the election of Ruto as the winner of the election. In response to the ruling, Odinga said he respected the Supreme Court's decision even though he strongly disagreed with it.
Presidency
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On 13 September 2022 he was inaugurated at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani in a ceremony presided over by Chief Justice Martha Koome, and attended by over 20 heads of state and government. The inauguration day was declared a public holiday. Attendance was very high, with groups of the general public clashing with security officials when trying to enter the stadium; however, the event continued peacefully. Following his inauguration he officially began his term as President of Kenya.
After taking office Ruto pledged to address climate change and end the use of fossil fuels in Kenya's electricity production by 2030.
On 18 September 2022 President Ruto made his first foreign trip as head of state to the United Kingdom, during which he attended the state funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022 at Westminster Abbey in London.
Two days later, on 21 September 2022, President Ruto made his debut address as head of state to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. He nodded to President Biden's "Build Back Better" domestic plan, proposing a global effort toward "building back better from the bottom upward." The goal, he said, should be "including the marginalized, working majority in the economic mainstream." Other themes he addressed were the expansion of the representation of Africa on the U.N. Security Council, increased investment in the African continent, "moving Africa from aid to investment", tapping "the ever-bustling" human capital for economic prosperity and a concerted effort towards tackling climate change in the world.
In September 2022, he said that the Horn of Africa was experiencing its worst drought in 40 years, adding that "3.1 million people are facing severe drought" in Kenya alone.
Asked about the ongoing Tigray War in northern Ethiopia between government forces and Tigray rebels, Ruto said that "whatever happens in Ethiopia gets to Kenya".
Speaking about the Somali Civil War, he said that "Kenyan troops will come back home as soon as we're done with the assignment that we have in Somalia."
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In 2023 Ruto proposed a large-scale privatisation of public enterprises, noting that it is not economically viable to keep pumping government resources into sustaining those corporations.
On 25 June 2024 at least five people were killed when public order broke down over tax protests. Ruto proposed several tax rises because more than half of its annual tax revenues are spent to service debt. The increased taxes are proposed "on everything from car ownership and financial transactions to sanitary pads."
On 11 July Ruto sacked most of his cabinet save for the deputy president and prime cabinet secretary, and the next day the police chief Japhet Koome resigned after 40 people died over the past month in the Kenya Finance Bill protests. Koome was held responsible for police violence against protesters. It was noted that "[a]bout 60% of Kenya’s collected revenues goes to servicing debt."
In September 2024, William Ruto and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signed an agreement that opened the German labor market to up to 250,000 skilled and semi-skilled migrant workers from Kenya. The agreement will also simplify the deportation of Kenyans from Germany. There are concerns about brain drain in Kenya, as professionals such as doctors and nurses could leave for better-paying jobs in Germany. The deal was made at a time when the anti-immigration AfD party is growing in popularity in Germany.
Personal life
Ruto is married to Rachel Chebet. The young couple first lived in Dagoretti, where they had their first child. They were married in 1991 at the Africa Inland Church. They currently have six children.
He is an evangelical Christian and a member of the Africa Inland Church.
He owns a considerable chicken farm in his home village of Sugoi, which was originally inspired by his stint as a chicken seller/hawker on the Nairobi-Eldoret-Malaba highway. Ruto and his wife built a chapel in their compound at their residence in the Karen suburb of Nairobi.
Honours, awards and recognition
National honours
Kenya:
Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya
Foreign honours
| Year | Country | Order | |
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| 2023 |  Comoros |
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Order of the Green Crescent of the Comoros (Grand Cross) |
| 2024 |  Ghana |
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Order of the Star of Ghana (Companion) |
| 2024 |  Guinea-Bissau |
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Amílcar Cabral Medal |
See also
In Spanish: William Ruto para niños
In Spanish: William Ruto para niños
- Presidency of William Ruto
- List of heads of state of Kenya
- 2022 Kenyan general election
