Farouk Kibet: The power behind William Ruto’s presidency
How can an unelected man who boasts of obscure academic credentials and has no formal office hold so much sway in the corridors of power for so long? How can such a man evoke so much resentment.
Amid rising abductions, escalating violence, a crumbling justice system, confusion in education and a healthcare crisis, ordinary Kenyans feel abandoned.
The real story is that Farouk Kibet has a PhD on William Ruto because he is the one who killed all the relatives and witnesses of the people William Ruto was charged of killing during the 2007/8 massacre in Kenya. That is how Ruto survived at the ICC trials. Every witness was killed by Kibet and his team of murderers. He might have to do the same this year as Ruto’s killings keep going up.
Now Kibet is the personal assistant to President Ruto and he in charge of everything. He is pretty much Ruto’s DP in everyway. Sad for the country. Isn’t it? But it is what it is. Kenyans will overcome it.
And here is another one of Ruto’s backward illiterate kids running his government and taking the country to hell in a hurry. Rush it up boys. Kenya will get out of there.
Let me say this. I do not value formal education and certificates that much. My father and mother whom I think are the smartest people I have seen and interacted with in my life did not have university degrees even though they demanded and made sure I got one.
My family figured out what to do with the land they had. My father was a tailor in Wang’arot market where he built a shop. He made brilliant suits and people just loved him. He put me in a lot of problem with my son.
Here in Toronto I told my son I never had shoes when I was a little boy down home. Then I told him not to buy Adidas and Nike shoes. Then he goes home and sees pictures of me and my father in his shop and I had great shoes. The boy looked at me and said dad you have been lying to me all this time. Then I said okay I stop now.
Good thing is that the young man got to meet his grandmother who wanted him home. They just made food and had fun all the time he was there from when he was five till when he was to eighteen and then covid came.
My father was one of the strangest intellectuals I have ever seen. He went to Maseno High School alrighet which is the Havard in my part of the world. But as a tailor who loved his job he became an amazing inventor in farming. Our folks used to just throw crops on land after digging it and my father thought that was terrible. So he comes up with a plan he called rope farming. He would make a 100 metre rope and put signs every metre on the rope and that is where you put the crop. Then you have a 100 metre line with 100 maize crops planted.
People looked at at it and they said that is Shem Adongo. That is my father’s name and many times people thought he was nuts. When the harvest time came nobody could believe how much maize he was getting from his farm. So they come to talk to him.
Problem with my father was you could only see him on Sundays. He worked in his beloved tailor shop from Monday to Saturday. Then on Sunday he goes to the river at the end of our farm to take a shower. After that he comes back and he was ready for consultations about farming with his two framed Humber bike turned upside down because he was fixing it. That was his Rolls Royce and he just loved to oil it. Only my mother was allowed to ride that bike and we couldn’t touch it.
My mother was something else too as a Nursery School teacher and perfect in food making. But they told us we have to go to school because we cannot make a living they way they were doing.
RUTO brags about his PhD and dismisses his critics as ‘people with little education who can’t teach him anything’
President William Ruto has hit out at critics of his administration, claiming as a PhD holder, he ‘understands what is going on in Kenya’
Addressing a crowd after opening the Garissa Immigration Center on Thursday, a visibly angry Ruto described his critics as ‘people with little education who cannot teach him anything.’
“When I see those complaining, I wonder where they studied.
“I have a PhD; I understand what is going on in Kenya. People with little education are trying to teach me.
“What are you trying to teach me?” he asked.
Ruto was conferred with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Plant Ecology from the University of Nairobi (UoN) in 2018.
Interestingly, at the time William Ruto was bragging about his PhD, Kenyans in Isiolo County were telling him to go to hell. The citizens wanted nothing to do with him and he had to cut off and leave.
Isiolo residents chant ‘Ruto must go’ during his regional tour, cut short his address
President William Ruto was forced to cut short his visit to Isiolo County on Friday, February 7, 2025, after persistent heckling disrupted the groundbreaking ceremony for the County Aggregation and Industrial Park project.
Tension rose during the event when residents began chanting “Ruto must go” following an address by Isiolo MP Bonaya Mumina Gollo.
The situation prompted Governor Abdi Guyo to intervene, urging the crowd to show respect to the president.
“Leo ni siku ya rais wacha tupatie rais heshima. Tupatie rais heshima. Tuskize viongozi wote. Wale wamezoea kupanga, watu wapigie watu kelele, hamtarudi kupiga kelele Isiolo. Tunaelewana?” he said.
The disruption escalated when Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo attempted to address the gathering.
She was heckled and denied an opportunity to speak, forcing her to plead with the crowd.
“Let us not throw stones,” she said.
‘I, too, am learned,’ Kalonzo responds to Ruto’s PhD remarks
Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka has cheekily hit back at President William Ruto’s claim that his academic credentials are unmatched by his critics.
In a social media post, Musyoka showcased his academic qualifications in response to Ruto’s remarks dismissing his critics as unqualified to advise him.
The former vice president noted that he is a senior counsel with a Master’s and Bachelor of Laws (LLB Honours) from the University of Nairobi, as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law.
He further highlighted his honorary Doctorate in Agriculture from Nanjing University, China, and a Doctorate of Letters (Honoris Causa) from Kenyatta University. He also mentioned his Doctorate of Divinity from the Latin University of Theology, noting his knowledge of religious studies.
Additionally, Musyoka described himself as a globally recognised arbitrator, registered with the Association of Professional Mediators as an International Mediator.
He said he is also a certified public secretary accredited by the Institute of Public Secretaries of Kenya and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management from the Mediterranean Institute of Management in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Musyoka’s response follows Ruto’s recent remarks during a tour of the North Eastern region, where he dismissed critics of his government’s policies, particularly the livestock vaccination program launched on January 30.
While defending the initiative, Ruto questioned the educational background of those opposing it, asserting that their knowledge did not match his.
“We export flowers and vegetables—is it a problem when we export meat? When we sell milk abroad, is that an issue? Which schools did these people showing little knowledge go to? Don’t I have a PhD? Don’t I know what happens in Kenya?” wondered Ruto.
“Now those with little education are trying to teach me. What are you teaching me?” he added.
The opposition, led by Musyoka, has criticised the vaccination program, raising concerns about potential health risks for both livestock and humans.
“The proposed vaccination project has all the markings of a sinister foreign agenda. It does not augur well for the pastoralist groups and this nation as a whole,” Musyoka said in a November press briefing in Nairobi last year.
Basically what William Ruto was telling Kenyans is that listen, I know I am stupid but I am the president and there is nothing anybody can do about that. The citizens of Isiolo told him to take his stupidity somewhere else.
Then Kalonzo Muysoka responds with his education qualifications which was to tell Kenyans that look I am also as stupid as President Ruto but you have to let me run the government of Kenya because that is the only job we can do. Maybe not this time Kalonzo. You might have to look for a real job for the first time in your life. How about that.
Adongo Ogony is a Kenyan Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
