William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto CGH (born 21 January 1967) is a Kenyan politician who is the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022.

Ruto authored several papers, including one titled Plant Species Diversity and Composition of Two Wetlands in the Nairobi National Park, Kenya.

[16] Through his church activities at the University of Nairobi, he met President Daniel arap Moi, who would later introduce him to politics during the 1992 general elections.

[19] After the 1992 elections, President Moi disbanded YK'92 and Ruto unsuccessfully vied for various branch-level positions in KANU, which was at that time Kenya's ruling party.

He surprisingly beat the incumbent, Reuben Chesire, Moi's preferred candidate, as well as the Uasin Gishu KANU branch chairman and assistant minister.

[23] His strong support in 2002 for Moi's preferred successor, Uhuru Kenyatta, saw him get a place as assistant minister in the Home Affairs (Interior) ministry.

[16] Some members of the ruling NARC coalition government, mainly former KANU ministers who had joined the opposition coalition in 2002 under the LDP banner and who were disgruntled as President Kibaki had not honored a pre-election MoU[24] on power-sharing and creation of a Prime Minister post, joined KANU to oppose the proposed constitution.

[16] Ruto sought the nomination of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) as its presidential candidate, but on 1 September 2007, he placed third with 368 votes.

[33] Ruto was among the list of people who were indicted to stand trial at the ICC for their involvement in Kenya's 2007/2008 political violence.

"[37] In the August 2017 General Elections, Uhuru and Ruto were declared victors after garnering 54% of the total votes cast.

[45] On 13 September 2022 he was inaugurated at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani in a ceremony presided over by Chief Justice Martha Koome, and attended by over 20 heads of state and government.

[46] Attendance was very high, with groups of the general public clashing with security officials when trying to enter the stadium; however, the event continued peacefully.

[48][49] After taking office Ruto pledged to address climate change and end the use of fossil fuels in Kenya's electricity production by 2030.

[52] Two days later, on 21 September 2022, President Ruto made his debut address as head of state to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Other themes he addressed were the expansion of the representation of Africa on the U.N. Security Council,[53] increased investment in the African continent, "moving Africa from aid to investment", tapping "the ever-bustling" human capital for economic prosperity and a concerted effort towards tackling climate change in the world.

[56] In 2023 Ruto proposed a large-scale privatisation of public enterprises, noting that it is not economically viable to keep pumping government resources into sustaining those corporations.

There are concerns about brain drain in Kenya, as professionals such as doctors and nurses could leave for better-paying jobs in Germany.

According to The Standard, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), a state agency, was duped into surrendering the land on which the Weston Hotel was built.

[71] In 2004, Ruto was charged with defrauding another state corporation, Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), of huge amounts of money through dubious land deals.

[87][88] Jirongo claimed that he and another former minister, Chris Okemo, were personally involved in paying the murdered government critic university's tuition fees, and that he knew the matter surrounding the controversy all too well.

[85] In June 2016, the Canadian newspaper Financial Post and the Kenyan newspaper The Standard both reported that Jacob Juma was the director of a Canadian company (Pacific Wildcat) whose license to explore $2 billion worth of minerals in Kwale county in Kenya was cancelled just after the Jubilee government took over.

He became a fierce government critic after he felt short-changed out of the mining license that eventually caused his company to lose money.

[89][90] This eventually led Jacob Juma to become fiercely critical of Ruto and the Jubilee government in tweets, media interviews, court filings, and political correspondence with opposition figures as well as diplomatic missions in Kenya.

[81][92] It later emerged Jacob Juma had promised the board of the Canadian company Pacific Wildcat that he would fight bureaucratic delays as well as the corruption that would stand in the way of getting the mining license.

A high court ruling in Kenya found that the Mining minister was right to cancel the license of the Canadian company.

[99][100] In December 2010, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that he was seeking the summons of six people, including Ruto, over their involvement in the 2007–8 electoral violence.

On 23 January 2012, the ICC confirmed the charges against Ruto and Joshua Sang, in a case that also involved Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura, Henry Kosgey and Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali.

[104] In 2009 the Waki Commission report stated that "the incident which captured the attention of both Kenyans and the world was a deliberate burning of live people, mostly Kikuyu women, and children huddled together in a church" in Kiambaa on 1 January 2008.

[34] On 28 July 2017, Ruto's home was targeted by at least one attacker armed with a machete, and the police officer on duty guarding the residence was injured.

[107][108] Around 48 hours later, Kenya Police chief Joseph Boinnet announced that the attacker had been shot dead and the situation was under control.