‘From chicken seller to president’: How Dutch newspaper reported win of Kenya’s Ruto

A Dutch newspaper went far into the life of Kenya’s president-elect, William Ruto, to pick a trade to associate with him in their headline on recent polls held in the East African country.

‘From chicken seller to president,’ the headline screamed.

The reference has triggered light reaction on Kenya’s social media space with most people wondering how Ruto’s chicken business of years ago ‘trumped’ his immediate role of deputy president or a leading maize farmer.

Ruto has often spoken about his poor background, tending his father’s cattle as a boy and selling chicken at a point in his youth.

After vigorously pursuing his studies, he joined student politics and later frontline national politics.

He has served as a Minister of Agric and in the last decade as deputy president to outgoing Uhuru Kenyatta.

Ruto was on August 15 elected fifth president of Kenya with 50.49% of the valid votes from the August 9 election, the International Electoral and Boundaries Commission, IEBC announced.

He won his first run for the top job, beating former prime minister Raila Odinga who ran for the fifth time. Odinga got 48.5% of the vote.