Deputy President William Ruto hopes Luhyas – more so from Kakamega county – will vote for him overwhelmingly because his wife Rachel is a Luhya.
Ruto first called on Luhyas to vote for him for marrying their daughter while addressing residents in Likuyani, Kakamega county on December 15th 2021.
The soft-spoken and media-shy madam Rachel Ruto hails from Likuyani in Kakamega county.
The DP called on Kakamega residents to support his presidential bid for marrying Rachel who hails from the county.
“I have several home affairs to highlight, Likuyani people, this is where I got my wife Rachael and the Bible says that we should love our neighbours, if you corner me this time around then I will accuse you of abandoning me to God,” Ruto said.
In a March 2021 interview with media personality Felix Odiwuor alias Jalang’o, Ruto opened up on how he was forced to learn Luhya dialect in a bid to adequately woo Rachel.
The DP explained with a light touch that he faced ‘stiff’ competition for Rachel’s hand in marriage from other men, and considering the rest were conversant with the Luhya language, he had no option but to learn the ropes as regard to the new dialect.
“I had no choice other than to learn Luhya because I was losing out. I did not want to lose out. I never like losing,” Ruto said.
Ruto married Rachel in 1991 and they have been blessed with six children namely; Nick, June, Stephanie, Charlene, George and Nadia.
The family has risen from humble background into one of the most prominent families in Kenya at the moment.
The knowledge of Luhya language would later come in handy for the DP when he stumbled on a lawmaker from Western Kenya bad-mouthing him at a public rally.
The MP, whom the DP did not name, reportedly advised the crowd to ‘eat’ the money realized from a Harambee the second in command was presiding over instead of channeling it towards development.
“I heard everything he said at the rally but he did not know that,” Ruto recalled.
“When I stood up to speak, I told the audience they needed these donations more than I did. If it was a bus, they needed to use it to make income. The same applies to boda bodas. I told them I did not stand to lose much if they misused my donations.”
Related: Ida Odinga Reveals Why They Are No Longer Friends With Rachel Ruto
