William Samoei Ruto was born in 1966 in Eldoret to humble beginnings though his family was not as poor as he claims and this is just one of the things that he has lied to Kenyans about in his attempt to endear himself to the public as he goes about his bid for the presidency.
The young Ruto was known to be witty and quickly developed signs of not only being selfish but it is said that the youngster always saw himself as being superior to his peers in the rural setting, although admittedly he seemed to be more intelligent and ambitious than his Kalenjin contemporaries at Kamagut primary school.
Maintaining good grades all through, Ruto secured a place at the university of Nairobi in the early 80's where he undertook an arts degree and on completion returned home where he became an untrained secondary school teacher.
And so we would never have heard of him had his big break not come in 1991. By a twist of fate that year, he managed to meet former president Moi's favorite son Gideon and the two got on so well and became bosom buddies with William doubling up as Gideon's alter ego and political hatchet man.
He however shot to the limelight in 1992 when he was appointed as one of the officials who were to spearhead former president Moi's campaign among the youth through the notorious lobby group the Youth for Kanu 92 better known as YK92.
As the groups' secretary to this well funded political lobby group, the young and ambitious Ruto started handling real money and as the funds flowed in from public coffers, Ruto managed to keep quite a substantial amount for himself without other officials knowing about it.
This was not too difficult because during that memorable campaign which impoverished millions of Kenyans, the chairman and former Lugari MP and now KADDU party chairman Cyrus Jirongo supervised the dishing out of money on a scale that had never been seen in Kenya and probably Africa, before. Several witnesses say that Cartons of cash (all in Kshs 500 notes) were stacked from the bottom and touched the roof at the YK92 offices at Anniversary Towers. Even today, it is mind boggling just to imagine the scene. The idea was simple, each official was to supervise the mass bribery of voters to ensure that President Moi was voted back to power.
The young and ambitious Ruto did exactly that but most of the money he received ended up in his pockets and instead, he chose to use his mouth more as he convinced angry and hungry Kenyans to vote for Moi.
With the Kanu victory secured later that year, Ruto and other top officials in the lobby group became Moi's blue eyed boys and were quickly introduced to the corruption networks that were running then, where they made millions of shillings, quite often overnight.
Ruto ignored the smaller deals and quickly identified where the real quick money was in these corruption networks. According to the constitution, the president still has authority to allocate land to private citizens including prime plots in Nairobi. And that is how the former untrained teacher managed to acquire prime pieces of land in Nairobi which he subsequently sold to parastatals at highly inflated prices and invested most of the money in real estate and agriculture.
To date, he still has a corruption case in court where he is charged with acquiring public property hived off Ngong Forest, which he later sold to the Kenya pipeline corporation at an inflated cost running into hundreds of millions.
The matter is yet to be heard and determined as the Eldoret MP has filed numerous objections based on constitutional references over the matter but that is another story.
In 1997, the young Ruto felt he was rich and well known to vie for the Eldoret North parliamentary seat which he secured and was appointed assistant minister.
To date Ruto is the only assistant minister in Kenya's history who attended cabinet meetings to the chagrin of fully-fledged ministers who feared Moi so much that they could not dare question the anomaly.
By this time, Ruto had acquired a big fortune through corruption and even his appointment as a full minister in Moi's government did not excite him much in terms of power but was convenient for him as he continued looting public coffers.
It should also be noted that Ruto knew how to handle Moi and even blackmail him through embarrassing public utterances, which prompted the former president to pass more cash in Ruto's way to make him content and to effectively stop his bickering.
Today, Ruto has changed his old Kanu jacket and is currently attempting to convince Kenyans that he is not the selfish and greedy type as he goes for the highest office in the land but majority of Kenyans probably including his good self know very well that he can't make it anywhere near the presidency.
What is there is that Ruto has not changed much and his presidential bid is to simply put him in a good position when ODM Kenya is dividing the "national cake" assuming that they manage to wrestle power from president Kibaki in general elections 2007.
Ruto will be more than content if he is appointed to the cabinet then as this will put him in a position to protect his ill-gotten wealth and perhaps accumulate more at the expense of Kenyans who mostly live below the poverty line and on less than a dollar a day. His criminal court case could even disappear with a little pressure from the executive arm of government then. After all it has happened many times before.
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Monday, January 22, 2007
Countdown To Elections 2007: Four Moi Kids Want To Follow In Daddy's Footsteps
As former president Moi's son Gideon completes his first term as an MP of the constituency his father represented, three other Moi sons are aspiring to go to parliament in a move that will not go down well with the ex-president.
Moi's eldest son Jonathan along with his brothers Raymond and Philip are all aspiring for the Rongai parliamentary seat, which is adjacent to Baringo and also has a big Kalenjin population.
Moi's siblings are rich enough and the attractive salaries and allowances that parliament offers is not what has prompted the trio to plunge into politics but it is definitely power which they are very conversant with considering 'daddy' was president for 24 years and has plenty to show for it.
The fact that the three brothers are all aspiring for the same seat will not only be embarrassing for their father but will make the aging grand master of Kenyan politics look very bad, as it will be perceived by the public that he has no control over his sons and worse still, it will portray disunity in his household.
It is also common knowledge that one of the sons will seek nomination on an ODM party ticket, the outfit that their father detests and even broke ranks with his very own "project" one Uhuru Kenyatta for joining. The very same movement, which has also turned out to be his bossom buddy, president Kibaki's worst nightmare.
Raymond has indicated that he will seek the nomination on a Kanu ticket while the younger sibling, Philip is opting for the ODM-Kenya vehicle which will definitely make him cross swords with his father who has made it public that "ODM ni shetani" (ODM is the devil)..
Jonathan on the other hand is yet to make up his mind and chances are that he will be contesting on a Kanu ticket and fighting it out with his younger brother in the party nominations to the chagrin of their father. The former rally driver could even opt to use one of the dozens of brief case parties that will be floating around this time.
It is evident that now that Moi has retired, he did not just lose grip of controlling the country but also his family and this is depicted by this outrageous move by his sons who are better known for their philandering lifestyles and care-free attitudes which embarrassed their father a great deal when he was the occupant of State House.
Chances are that the trio may all fail in their political aspirations considering that even if their dad wanted to support them (which he does not) his clout among the Kalenjin is rapidly waning by the day. They will therefore have to carry their own cross, which means that chances of embarrassing daddy are quite high.
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Moi's eldest son Jonathan along with his brothers Raymond and Philip are all aspiring for the Rongai parliamentary seat, which is adjacent to Baringo and also has a big Kalenjin population.
Moi's siblings are rich enough and the attractive salaries and allowances that parliament offers is not what has prompted the trio to plunge into politics but it is definitely power which they are very conversant with considering 'daddy' was president for 24 years and has plenty to show for it.
The fact that the three brothers are all aspiring for the same seat will not only be embarrassing for their father but will make the aging grand master of Kenyan politics look very bad, as it will be perceived by the public that he has no control over his sons and worse still, it will portray disunity in his household.
It is also common knowledge that one of the sons will seek nomination on an ODM party ticket, the outfit that their father detests and even broke ranks with his very own "project" one Uhuru Kenyatta for joining. The very same movement, which has also turned out to be his bossom buddy, president Kibaki's worst nightmare.
Raymond has indicated that he will seek the nomination on a Kanu ticket while the younger sibling, Philip is opting for the ODM-Kenya vehicle which will definitely make him cross swords with his father who has made it public that "ODM ni shetani" (ODM is the devil)..
Jonathan on the other hand is yet to make up his mind and chances are that he will be contesting on a Kanu ticket and fighting it out with his younger brother in the party nominations to the chagrin of their father. The former rally driver could even opt to use one of the dozens of brief case parties that will be floating around this time.
It is evident that now that Moi has retired, he did not just lose grip of controlling the country but also his family and this is depicted by this outrageous move by his sons who are better known for their philandering lifestyles and care-free attitudes which embarrassed their father a great deal when he was the occupant of State House.
Chances are that the trio may all fail in their political aspirations considering that even if their dad wanted to support them (which he does not) his clout among the Kalenjin is rapidly waning by the day. They will therefore have to carry their own cross, which means that chances of embarrassing daddy are quite high.
Search engines can give you huge traffic. Here's how a Kenyan company can get thousands of visitors to their site daily.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Kumekucha Daily: Home Page 19th January 2007
Kumekucha Today
Lead Story
What next for Uhuru Kenyatta?
Lead Story
What next for Uhuru Kenyatta?
i) Who will be Raila Odinga's running mate? Surprise, surprise
ii) Rebel and self-proclaimed Ugandan Prophetess dies in Kenya
iii) Puzzling Bank Robbery In Mombasa
iv) Can Anybody Be President? Or Should We Leave It To The Ruling Class?
v) Should church leaders stay out of politics?
Recent stories
Popular Evangelist Pius Muiru Says He Wants To Be President.
i) Mutula Kilonzo: The Real Man Behind The City Laywer And ODM Activist
ii) What Options For Ngilu If Kalonzo Leaves ODM-Kenya?
iii) Why Has Standard Newspapers Gone Soft Against The Government?
Raila And The Presidency Part 3: The Big Headache For Raila Handlers
How To Rig The Polls By Calling Early Elections
Is Samuel Arap Ngeny The Next Chairman Of The Electoral Commission Of Kenya?
Bishop Margaret Wanjiru Controversy
Raila Presidential Bid Analysis Part 2
William Ruto, YK92 And His Presidential Ambitions
Carjackers with political ambitions
Is Bizarre Rumour About Mutula Kilonzo In ODM True?
The Deepest Analysis Of Raila Odinga The Presidential Candidate
How Will President Kibaki Finance His Re-election?
Kenya General Elections 2007: The Latest Prediction
Is Kalonzo The Soft Underbelly Of ODM-Kenya Unity?
Citizen Weekly Editors To Vie For Political Office.
President Kibaki Is Waiting For ODM Split To Call For Early Elections
Why An Early Election Will Favor Narc Kenya
The Kalonzo Musyoka You Don't Know Part 4: How He Grew Up With Witchcraft And Forces Of Darkness
What Was Moi Meeting Kibaki About, This Time Round?
Dangers Somalia Poses To Kenya
The Big Moi Blunder On Somali That Is Being Paid For By Kenyan Blood
Who Will Be President Kibaki's Running Mate?
The Kalonzo Musyoka You Don't Know And His Big Obstacle In His Own Back Yard.
Kumekucha Goes Daily.
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This Blog is dedicated to the memory of this man...
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