William Ruto

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William Samoei Ruto (born December 21, 1966 in Kamagut, Uasin Gishu) is a Kenyan politician who has been Minister for Agriculture since April 2008. He was Secretary General of the Kenya African National Union, the former ruling political party, and he has been MP for Eldoret North constituency since the 1997 Kenyan election. He became Minister of Home Affairs in August 2002 but lost the post after the December 2002 election, in which KANU lost to the NARC coalition. He is seen as a fast emerging powerful Kalenjin politician in Kenya's political arena.

Ruto was Treasurer of Youth for Kanu '92 (YK92), a group that was formed to drum up campaign for President Daniel arap Moi in the 1992 election.^[1] William Ruto is currently 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 case has been dragging in the courts for almost three years due to technical injunctions.^[2].^[3]

In January 2006, Ruto declared publicly that he would vie 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 September 1, 2007, he placed third with 368 votes, behind the winner, Raila Odinga (with 2,656 votes) and Musalia Mudavadi (with 391).^[4] Ruto expressed his support for Odinga after the vote.^[5] He resigned from his post as KANU secretary general on October 6, 2007.^[6]

Although the December 2007 presidential election was officially won by incumbent Mwai Kibaki, the ODM challenged this, claiming victory for Odinga. After a violent political crisis over the results, Kibaki and Odinga agreed to form a power-sharing government.^[7]^[8] In the grand coalition Cabinet named on April 13, 2008^[8] and sworn in on April 17,^[7] Ruto was appointed as Minister for Agriculture.^[8]

Ruto attended Wareng Secondary School, Eldoret, Kapsabet Boys, Nandi and has a BSc in botany from the University of Nairobi.

[edit] Ethnic cleansing controversy

William Ruto was the treasurer of Youth for KANU, an organization seen as responsible for the ethnic violence in Rift Valley during the 1992 and 1997 elections.^[9]

A leaked, and most likely forged, Orange Democratic Movement strategy paper for 2007 elections names William Ruto as responsible for leading a campaign for exclusion of the Kikuyus, Akambas and Indians from certain areas. The strategy paper also contains plans for use of ethnic cleansing as a last resort. ^[10]

William Ruto has been accused of fueling the violence following the Kenyan 2007 elections with hate speech.^[11] Other sources accuse William Ruto of actually leading and financing the genocidal actions in Rift Valley during the 2007 election crisis. ^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15].

This is not the first time William Ruto has been accused of promoting ethnic violence. In April 2007, on the floor of the Kenya Parliament, John Serut, the then Assistant Minister for Planning and National Development and Member of Parliament for Mount Elgon constituency, accused Ruto (together with Members of Parliament, Musa Sirma , Jebii Kilimo, Charles Keter and Franklin Bett) of financing the activities of Fredrick Chesebe Kapondi, that resulted in the killings and displacement of hundreds of people in the Mt Elgon district of Western Kenya. He also accused Ruto of inciting people in Mt Elgon district to kill one another. William Ruto and the other members of Parliament denied this.^[16]^[17]

Local opposition leaders have been accused of inciting the violence that led to burning of 30 women and children in a church near Eldoret after 2007 elections. ^[18]

It has been alleged by some sources that William Ruto used the Karamajong Guerrilla Fighters to commit ethnic cleansing in the Rift Valley. ^[19]