Kenya: William Ruto declared president-elect

RegionWeek Newsletter Vol VI, Issue #218 | Tuesday, August 15, 2022

Dear Readers,

In Kenya’s general election held on 9 August 2022, incumbent Vice President, William Ruto, has been declared the winner. Four candidates vied to be president, Mr. Ruto polled 50.49 percent of the total votes cast ( 7,176,141) to defeat his closest challenger, ex-Prime Minister Raila Odinga who polled 48.85 percent ( 6,942,930) of votes cast.

“in accordance with the Constitution and the law, chairperson of IEBC hereby declare that Ruto William Samoei has been duly elected as the President of the Republic of Kenya under the provision of Article 138 of the Constitution of the Presidential election held on August 9, 2022,” said Wafula Chebukati, chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Announcing Mr. Ruto as President-Elect.

Following the general elections in the Republic of Kenya, Evariste Ndayishimiye, the Burundian Head of State and current President of the East African Community congratulated President-Elect William Samoei Ruto and calls on all actors to preserve the peace and favor legal avenues to resolve their differences.

Who is William Ruto?

William Ruto was born in Sugoi, Uasin Gishu County in 1966.  His early schooling was at Kamagut Primary, then joined Wareng Secondary School, followed by Kapsabet Boys High School for his A levels. He joined the University of Nairobi where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Botany and Zoology in 1990. He returned to the same university years later and graduated with a Master of Science degree in 2011 and a Ph.D. in 2018.

He worked as a teacher before joining politics and earned a lot of respect in that profession. Ruto entered the realm of politics when he started campaigning for the presidential candidate of ‘KANU’ Daniel Arap Moi.

Dr. Ruto has served as Kenya’s deputy president since 2013 when he was elected as President Uhuru Kenyatta’s running mate. In October 2014, he served as acting President when Mr. Kenyatta briefly relinquished power to attend to his criminal case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands. Mr. Kenyatta’s charges were later dropped.

Thanks for reading

Fabrice Iranzi, Editor in Chief, RegionWeek