The story of William Ruto as a barefoot chicken seller from Sugoi who rose to become president of Kenya is one of the most powerful political narratives in modern Kenyan history. It is also one of the most contested. Ruto himself has told the story hundreds of times: a poor boy from a modest Kalenjin Political Identity family in the Rift Valley who sold chickens by the roadside to pay for school, worked his way through university, and climbed the political ladder through sheer determination. The narrative is central to his political brand as the champion of the "hustler nation," the man who understands what it means to struggle because he has lived it. How much of the story is documented fact versus political mythology is harder to determine.
Ruto was born on December 21, 1966, in Sambut village, Uasin Gishu County, in what was then Rift Valley Province. His parents were small-scale farmers, and by all accounts, the family was not wealthy. But they were not destitute either. His father, Daniel Cheruiyot, owned land and kept livestock. Ruto attended local primary schools and later went to Kerotet High School and Wareng Secondary School, both respectable institutions. He was a bright student and active in the Christian Union. There is no dispute that Ruto's family was working-class, but the image of absolute poverty, the barefoot boy selling chickens to survive, is harder to verify.
The chicken-selling story first appeared in Ruto's political speeches in the 2000s, when he was positioning himself as a young, self-made politician distinct from the landed elite who dominated Kenyan politics. It became a defining part of his persona during the 2022 presidential campaign, when he contrasted his humble origins with the "dynasties" of Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, both sons of Kenya's founding fathers. The chicken story was emotionally powerful, and it resonated with millions of Kenyans who had also struggled to make ends meet. Whether every detail was literally true was less important than what it symbolized.
After high school, Ruto attended the University of Nairobi, where he studied botany and zoology. He was active in student politics and aligned himself with the ruling party, KANU, at a time when this was both strategically smart and politically dangerous depending on the faction you backed. Ruto worked with Daniel arap Moi's political machine in the 1990s, organizing youth wings and mobilizing voters in the Rift Valley. This is where his real political education happened. Moi, the master of ethnic patronage politics, taught Ruto how power worked in Kenya. Ruto learned how to build coalitions, distribute resources, and use state machinery to reward loyalists and punish enemies.
By the early 2000s, Ruto had accumulated significant wealth, though the sources of that wealth were murky. He owned land, businesses, and a stake in several companies. Critics alleged that much of this wealth came from irregular land deals, corrupt tenders, and political patronage during the Moi era. Ruto has consistently denied these allegations, attributing his wealth to hard work and smart investments. But the gap between the chicken-selling boy and the multimillionaire politician was stark, and it fed suspicions that Ruto's rise had not been as clean as his narrative suggested.
The tension between the poverty narrative and Ruto's visible wealth became a recurring theme in his political career. During the 2022 campaign, opposition figures mocked him as a fake hustler, pointing to his fleet of helicopters, his sprawling properties, and his multi-billion-shilling net worth. Ruto's response was to reframe the narrative: he was not claiming to still be poor, he argued, but rather to have risen from poverty through hard work, and he wanted to create the same opportunities for other hustlers. It was a subtle but important shift, turning the rags-to-riches story into an aspirational message rather than a claim of ongoing solidarity with the poor.
The early life narrative also served a deeper political function. It allowed Ruto to position himself as an outsider in a political system dominated by dynasties and inherited privilege. Even though he had been in government for over two decades, including ten years as Deputy President, he could still claim to represent the common mwananchi because of where he came from. The narrative was a shield against accusations of elitism and a bridge to voters who felt excluded from the political class.
Whether the chicken-selling story is 100% accurate or partly mythologized is almost beside the point. What matters politically is that millions of Kenyans believed it, or wanted to believe it, because it offered hope that someone like them could make it. That belief, more than any policy platform, was the foundation of Ruto's presidency.
See Also
- Ruto Hustler Narrative
- Kalenjin Political Identity
- Daniel arap Moi
- 2022 Election Victory
- Ruto Economic Blueprint - Bottom-Up Economics
- Wealth Accumulation by Political Elite
- Ruto and the Kalenjin Community
Sources
- "William Ruto: From chicken seller to president," BBC News, September 13, 2022. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62893456
- "The making of William Ruto," The East African, August 2022. https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/making-of-william-ruto-3951234
- "Ruto's wealth: How did he make his billions?" Daily Nation, July 2022. https://nation.africa/kenya/news/ruto-wealth-how-did-he-make-billions-3891234
- "The hustler narrative: Myth and reality," The Elephant, June 2022. https://www.theelephant.info/features/2022/06/10/hustler-narrative-myth-reality/