Category: Politicians Profiles
William Kipchirchir Samoei arap Ruto born 21 December 1966 in Kamagut, Uasin Gishu) is a Kenyan politician who was Minister for Higher Education until 19 October 2010 after being suspended for corruption. He is also one of the two deputy party leaders of the Orange Democratic Movement. He had previously served in the Ministry of Agriculture since April 2008. Ruto was elected Director of Elections on 18 March 2002, when the National Development Party led by Raila Odinga merged with the Kenya African National Union (KANU). He was Secretary General of KANU, the former ruling political party, and he has been MP for Eldoret North Constituency since the 1997 Kenyan election a seat he won after trouncing the former M.P. The Late Hon. Rueben Chesire. He became an Assistant Minister in the Office of the President and was appointed Minister in charge of Home Affairs in August 2002 but lost the post after the December 2002 election, in which Kenya African National Union lost to the National Rainbow Coalition coalition. He also previously served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Reform in the 9th Parliament.
Ruto has been implicated in orchestrating the 2007/2008 post election violence in Kenya.On November 3, 2010, Ruto flew to the International Criminal Court at the Hague to discuss an evidence deal with the prosecutor. On 15 December 2010, Ruto was named in a summons by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, in relation to his role in violence which followed from the 2007 elections
Early life
Ruto was born 21 December 1966 in Kamagut, Uasin Gishu to the late Mzee Daniel Cheruiyot and Mama Sarah Cheruiyot. He attended Kerotet Primary School for his primary school education then joined Wareng Secondary School for his Ordinary Levels education before proceeding to Kapsabet Boys, Nandi for his Advanced Levels. He then went on to receive a BSc and MSc in botany from the University of Nairobi, graduating in 1990.
Political career
Ruto was Organising Secretary of Youth for Kanu ’92 (YK92), a group that was formed to drum up support for President Daniel arap Moi in the 1992 election.
In January 2006, Ruto declared publicly that he would stand for the presidency in the next general election, scheduled for December 2007. His statement was condemned by some of his KANU colleagues, including former president Daniel arap Moi. Ruto sought the nomination of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) as its presidential candidate, but in the party’s vote on 1 September 2007, he placed third with 368 votes, behind the winner, Raila Odinga (with 2,656 votes) and Musalia Mudavadi (with 391). Ruto expressed his support for Odinga after the vote. He resigned from his post as KANU secretary general on 6 October 2007.
The presidential election of December 2007 ended in an impasse. The Kenya’s electoral comission declared Kibaki the winner while exit polls had clearly placed Raila Odinga in front. Raila and ODM claimed victory. In a scene that has been replicated all over Africa, Mwai Kibaki was hurriedly sworn in as the president December 2007 presidential election. What followed was mayhem and bloodbath that no one foresaw. Following the violent political crisis over the results, 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.
On 21 April 2010, President Mwai Kibaki and his Prime Minister Raila Odinga removed Ruto from the agriculture ministry, and transferred him to the higher education ministry, swapping posts with Sally Kosgei.
Controversy
William Ruto was on trial charged with defrauding the Kenya Pipeline Company of huge amounts of money through dubious land deals, but he has been out on bond. The Constitutional Court suspended further hearing of the case due to complaints by Ruto that the prosecution was politically engineered. However, the High Court cleared the path for criminal charges against the Higher Education minister over the alleged sale of a piece of land in Ngong’ forest to Kenya Pipeline Company Ltd.
Maize Scandal
In early 2009 after parliamentary debate on a maize scandal, Ruto was accused of illegally selling maize by Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale (Public Accounts Committee Chairman). All the documents bearing the National Cereals and Produce Board seal that linked Mr Ruto to the illegal sale of maize were accepted by Parliament’s deputy speaker.[11]
Managers of the board stated maize was allocated to some individuals allegedly on the strength of a call by Mr Ruto.[1] Ttables showed that the cereals board had in store 2.6 million bags of maize in June 2008 and had allocated maize to companies and individuals described as undeserving. Mr Ruto had informed the House that the maize in the stores at the time was 1.6 million bags. William Ruto attributed the maize scandal allegations and claims of his involvement in corruption to the work of his “political enemies”.
New Constitution
While Ruto and Odinga are both from the Orange Democratic Movement of the power-sharing government, they disagree on the issue of the proposed constitution draft with Ruto calling for rejection of the draft in the upcoming constitutional referendum, arguing that some of its clauses are unsuitable while Odinga and Kibaki are campaigning in its favour.
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Ruto now reveals the accusations against him
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