DP Ruto makes friends and foes with his hard-ball politics

Wide-ranging interviews with critics and close allies of the man portray a politician who attracts both admiration and resentment in the fierce political competition ahead of the August 8 General Election.PHOTO:COURTESY

Deputy President William Ruto is not a presidential candidate in the August election, but he is seemingly fighting on more fronts than President Uhuru Kenyatta, winning himself love and loathing in equal measure.

He also has choice and unflattering statements for his ‘enemies’, like in the case of former Devolution minister Anne Waiguru, whom he said was responsible for loss of cash at the National Youth Service “but is now busy cat-walking before us”. On the man he seems to loathe the most, Opposition leader Raila Odinga, he calls him, “Yule jamaa wa waganga na vitendawili” (man of riddles and witchdoctors).