KENYA: William Ruto is scheduled to take the oath of office on Tuesday, one week after the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to his election made by a seasoned opposition leader. Ruto will become Kenya’s fifth president.
William Ruto, a brilliant orator with a strong work ethic, will need to address Kenya’s high unemployment rate and the nation’s mounting public debt, which his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, has been using to finance growth over the past ten years.
Since 2013, he has been Kenyatta’s deputy, although their relationship deteriorated following the 2016 election. To succeed him, Kenyatta favoured opposition leader Raila Odinga and deemed William Ruto unfit for administration.
The Supreme Court rejected Odinga’s appeal and many others after he filed a lawsuit accusing William Ruto of employing fraud to win the election. Odinga, 77, was running for office for the fifth time.
After the ruling, William Ruto tweeted, “Democracy is expected to unite people, strengthen their society and improve its institutions and must not become an acrimonious, fearful and desperate enterprise.”
During the campaigns, William Ruto, a 55-year-old former roadside chicken vendor positioned himself as the underdog going up against the elite, pointing out that Odinga and Kenyatta were the sons of the country’s first vice president and president, respectively.
Youths are persistently underemployed, and families are struggling due to poverty and widespread corruption, which Kenyatta publicly admitted he was powerless to control, related to that message.
Regional leaders will attend the swearing-in ceremony for the new President at the Kasarani Sports Centre in Nairobi, the country’s capital. In a television video, military musicians honed their routines with their fellow soldiers on Monday.
The wealthiest and most powerful country in East Africa is Kenya, a crucial Western partner in a volatile region. There are numerous large international firms and organizations with regional headquarters there.
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