William Ruto

William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto pronunciation^ⓘ 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. 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. Following a political fallout, Kenyatta endorsed Raila Odinga as his preferred successor.

Ruto, now running under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), defeated Odinga for the presidency in the 2022 election. While the election was largely described as fair by the African Union and other international missions, it was contested by Odinga’s allies, who alleged electoral fraud. However, the Supreme Court of Kenya upheld the results, ruling that the allegations lacked sufficient evidence to invalidate the outcome.

President Ruto has elevated Kenya’s geopolitical profile, positioning the country as a strategic partner for Western powers while championing pan-African interests. Under his leadership, Kenya became the first sub-Saharan African nation to be designated as a Major Non-NATO Ally by the United States. He is also an advocate for climate justice and global financial reform, chairing the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in 2023, which resulted in the Nairobi Declaration, a call for a global carbon tax and a more equitable international debt system.

Regionally, Ruto has played a key role as a mediator in East African conflicts, through the Nairobi Process aimed at ending the insurgency in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and his involvement in the Sudan peace talks. Domestically, his administration has built the Talanta Sports City stadium project and spearheaded the National Tree Growing Restoration campaign, which aims to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 to combat climate change and restore Kenya's forest cover. In June 2024, Ruto's proposed finance bill was the subject of protests in which at least 22 people were killed, causing Ruto to back down and withdraw the bill.