President William Ruto was born on 21 December 1966 in Kamagut, Uasin Gishu to Daniel Cheruiyot and Sarah Cheruiyot. He attended Kerotet Primary School.

Ruto had a childhood that epitomises the lives of many ordinary Kenyans, as he went to primary school barefoot, wearing his first pair of shoes at the age of 15 and sold chicken and groundnuts by the roadside in rural areas.

He is married to Rachael who he first met at church youth meetings. Together they have six children.

After completing his O-levels at Wareng’ Secondary School in Uasin Gishu, Ruto joined Kapsabet High School in Nandi, to pursue his A-levels.

He later joined the University of Nairobi where he enrolled for a degree in Zoology and Botany.

Ruto graduated in 1990 at the top of his class for which he was offered a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree at the same university.

In 1991, he enrolled for an MSc at the university, but a year later, he postponed the course for other engagements.

In 1992, he joined Youth for Kanu 92 (YK92), a group that was campaigning for  President Daniel arap Moi in that year’s election.

He was elected the MP for Eldoret North in 1997  where he served until 2013.

In 2002, he briefly served as Minister for Home Affairs under the Moi administration.

He was elected Kanu Secretary General in 2005.

In 2007, Ruto parted ways with Kanu and backed Raila Odinga for the presidency in that year’s election.

In 2008 he was appointed Agriculture minister in the Grand Coalition Government of President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila. In 2010 he was shifted to the Higher Education ministry.

Running mate

In 2011, he resigned as a minister after he was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) because of the violence that followed the disputed 2007 election.

In the 2013 presidential election, he was Uhuru Kenyatta’s running mate and they won the election. Both of them were facing the ICC charges at the time but the cases were later dropped.

 In June 2013, the High Court ordered him to surrender a 100-acre farm and compensate a farmer who had accused him of grabbing the land during the 2007 post-election violence

In 2017 election, Uhuru and Ruto were re-elected.

The alliance started to break up in 2018 when Uhuru reconciled with Raila.

Ruto remained in office, however, courtesy of constitutional provision that secures the tenure of a deputy president.