During a Sunday rally in Kibera, azimio leader Raila Odinga dared president william ruto to arrest him. Raila is holding rallies across the country to oppose the election results that saw ruto clinch the presidential seat.
Raila Odinga has repeatedly said that he doesn't recognise the Ruto administration and has demanded their resignation, even though these two are fierce enemies. Now they used to be excellent friends, so what happened between the two friends?
President William ruto entered the political arena in the early 1990s when Kenya faced a battle between multipartysim and single-party movements. Ruto was a fierce supporter of the late president daniel Moi and opposed the transition to democratisation. Raila odinga, on the other hand, has always been a champion of democracy, following in his father's footsteps, the late jaramogi Odinga.
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The famous duo first met in parliament in 1978 when ruto was elected as a member of parliament for the eldoret north constituency while Raila was representing the langata constituency. They were still on opposite sides of politics. in 1992, ruto formed a group called Youth for Kanu to ensure that moi retained the seat in the first-ever multiparty elections in the country. Other politicians involved are Cyrus jirongo, Sam Nyamweya, Patrick Musumba, and Gerald Bomett. the yk 1992 was in charge of much money after the first multiparty elections.
Ruto's troubles with moi happened in 2005 when ruto made his intentions clear to run for the country's top seat. This news did not sit well with moi as he had planned to back other candidates' presidential bids. Due to his bid, moi denied ruto and other leaders entry into his eldama ravine home.
After KANU lost the elections and the NARCK Kenya coalition took office, ruto took office as the secretary general for KANU. in 2005, and the country had a constitutional referendum famously dubbed the ndizi vs machungwa referendum. Under the KANU party, Ruto joined the no team to the constitutional reforms. They formed a coalition with the orange democratic movement led by Raila odinga and named their alliance the pentagon. They emerged victorious in the referendum.
On October 6 2007, ruto resigned as the secretary general of kanu and joined the ODM party and contested for the presidential ticket but came in third after Raila odinga and musalia mudavadi. He, however, supported Raila's presidential bid in the 2007 elections.
The ODM party lost the 2007 elections to Kibaki's PNU, and the polls led to the worst violence the country has faced since independence. Ruto retained his mp seat. To end the country's violence, Raila and Kibaki agreed to a power-sharing act that would see Raila become the country's prime minister.
After the violence, ruto was among the top politicians indicted to stand trial at the ICC courts in Hague as the perpetrators of the violence. Anonymous reports claimed that it was Raila who took ruto to the hague betraying him. Raila odinga has fiercely denied these claims saying that ruto was his supporter in the 2007 elections and that there is no way he could take his friends to a foreign court.
The ICC dismissed rutos charges due to a lack of sufficient evidence, and crucial witnesses withdrew from the case. After this, ruto and Uhuru formed the jubilee alliance to run for the 2013 presidential elections against the veteran and former friend Raila odinga. Jubilee won the elections making ruto the first deputy president under the new constitution.
Raila and ruto were at odds again in 2018 when the former prime mister had the famous handshake with the former president Uhuru Kenyatta, and this handshake saw ruto sidelined from his duties as the deputy president and final exit from the jubilee coalition. Ruto blamed Raila for splitting the jubilee with his nusu mkate deals.
Ruto and some of the jubilee members formed the UDA party as he was bent on running for the top seat in the 2022 elections. The final knife to the back came when uhuru kenyatta opted to support Raila Odinga's presidential bid instead of ruto.
Ruto needed the famous mt kenya votes to win the elections, and he campaigned severally in the region. he was still running against Raila odinga, who, for the first time, had the mt kenya votes at his disposal. Ruto emerged as the winner in the presidential elections, with Raila odinga coming in second. Ruto made history as the first presidential candidate to win the top seat on his first trial. He formed a coalition with western leaders such as musalia mudavadi and Moses wetangula, who had supported Raila Odinga in his previous attempts. This coalition ensured he got a piece of the mulembe nation's votes.
Raila odinga challenged rutos win in the court of appeal, but he was unsuccessful as the court sided with ruto leading to his swearing-in as the president, but raila has refused to accept his presidency and has demanded his resignation. The former prime mister is holding rallies across the country to mobile people, but the president has dismissed his claims saying that he will continue to render his duties as the president of Kenya.
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