Used, dumped and silenced: Ruto's path now littered with loyalists left behind

Former UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala. [File, Standard]

When they threw their weight behind President William Ruto and helped him win the presidency by rallying support in their backyards, most were optimistic that their stay in Kenya Kwanza would be rewarded.

They include veteran politicians who devoted their time, resources, and livelihoods to help Ruto, then a heavily sidelined deputy president, to outsmart the campaign machinery that his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta had assembled, through the Azimio coalition, to upset him.