Pole positionIf Nasa is the biggest loser of these polls the biggest winner was William Ruto...
Specifically the careers of three men hang on the outcome: President Kenyatta; Deputy President William Ruto who hopes that the alliance between his Kalenjin constituency and Kenyatta's Kikuyu will bring him the presidency four years from now; and serial presidential candidate Raila Odinga for whom at 72 this is the last chance of the top job...
There are widespread stories of questionable multi-million dollar deals linked to William Ruto and his Kalenjin 'Sky Team' inner circle while the Kenyatta family remains one of the richest in the country and one of the biggest landowners...
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According to Ipsos the Jubilee Party's President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto will win 47% of the vote (up 1% from its poll in May) compared to 43% for Odinga leader of the National Super Alliance (Nasa)...
President Uhuru Kenyatta is personally popular among the Kisii but not so his Deputy President William Ruto whose presence brings memories of the 2008 post-election violence in which many Kisii in the Rift Valley suffered at the hands of Ruto's Kalenjin supporters...
All these calculations and the scare caused by Nasa's rise have forced Uhuru and William Ruto to launch one of the most energetic Kenyan election campaigns in recent memory crossing all parts of the country with the exception so far of Raila's Luo counties...
Jubilee parks tanks on Nasa's Law President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto are taking the competition right into the heartland of the opposition National Super Alliance...
The Maasai counties are part of the Rift Valley William Ruto's core constituency...
Isaac Ruto now leads a Kipsigis branch of the Kalenjin people against Jubilee and William Ruto...
Relations have also cooled markedly between William Ruto and the family of ex-President Daniel arap Moi...
Moi's son Gideon Kipsielei Towett Moi is now the Senator for Baringo and sees himself as the natural rival to William Ruto...
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Another difference is that Vice President William Ruto has been losing votes among his Kalenjin people in the Rift Valley; several popular Kalenjin politicians such as Isaac Ruto are boosting Nasa and Odinga...
If neither presidential candidate polls more than 50% of the vote the election goes to a second round the eventuality that Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto dread the most...
Vol 58 No 10 |
- AFRICA
- EUROPE
In Kenya BTP Advisers are understood to have been re-appointed to take charge of local and international communications for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto in the lead-up to August's general elections...
The order was made at Kenyatta's Jubilee Party national delegates' conference at Nairobi's Bomas Centre on 6 May which endorsed him as the party's presidential candidate with Vice-President William Ruto as his deputy...
William Ruto's influence over party nominations in his Kalenjin homeland of the Rift Valley was even lower than that of Odinga and Kenyatta...
That complicates the political axis of the vote-rich Rift Valley of Kalenjin voters currently 'owned' by Vice-President William Ruto for Jubilee...
Vol 58 No 3 |
- AFRICAN UNION
President Uhuru Kenyatta has vigorously promoted her at every diplomatic venue as has Vice-President William Ruto...