By Vitalis Kimutai
"She is the best mother in the world," is how Higher Education Minister William Ruto describes his mother, Mrs Sarah Cheruiyot.
"She took us to school, inculcated strong Christian values in us, and disciplined all of us."
Because of this, Ruto supports Mothers’ Day, which will be marked tomorrow saying the day is worth celebrating.
"My mother ensured that all her children prayed before every meal, before going to bed, and in the morning.
"Despite the fact that my mother did not get any formal education, she knows the words and pages of every song in the hymn book," says Ruto.
"The fact that she knows so much without formal education inspired us to do our best in school. I am who I am today because of her," says Ruto.
Higher Education Minister William Ruto |
"At her age, she houses and educates several cousins," says Ruto.
Ruto says he wore his first shoes when he was admitted to Form One at Wareng Secondary School.
"The village is heaven. It gives one a good touch with ordinary life. The children out there are real and genuine even in their stereotyped life," says Ruto.
Owing to the discipline instilled in him by his mother, Ruto is a stickler for time.
Because of this he often arrives at fundraisings and church functions ahead of his hosts.
Paul Maritim, Ruto’s step brother, told this writer that as a boy in class four at Kamagut Primary School, Ruto joked that he would one day be a big man.
"How would you feel if I one day rise to be a big man like President Moi?" Ruto said one morning as the family took breakfast in the kitchen.
His mother replied that they would all be happy but dismissed it as a child’s dream.
Today, Ruto is an MP and a Cabinet minister with presidential ambition. Will his child hood ambition come true? Only time will tell.
