On November 11, 2008, DP William Ruto, then Eldoret North MP while appearing on an episode of Churchill Live, narrated to Kenyans how retired President Daniel arap Moi tried to block his Parliamentary debut in the 1997 general elections.
Ruto recalled how Moi advised Eldoret North constituents to elect a person who was 'famous' and whose background and family they knew well.
"When I ran in 1997, Nyayo came to Eldoret and he was vicious. He stood there and said, 'you people need to elect people who are known whose character is known, whose background is known.'
"Choose between [Reuben] Chesire and [William arap] Saina. I understand there is some character running around," Ruto recalled the tough opposition he faced on his way up.
DP Ruto took the host, Daniel "Churchill" Ndambuki, down memory lane to his university days and how he met former president Daniel Arap Moi.
"Nyayo, Nyayo is a very interesting fellow, the first time we met Nyayo, we used to be officials of then District Organisations of University Students, he gave us capital handouts."
In 1992, Ruto was Organising Secretary of Youth For KANU 92 (YK92), a group that was formed to drum up support for President Daniel Arap Moi in the 1992 election and still mzee did not think he had what it took to climb the political ladder.
He won the Eldoret North Parliamentary seat in the 1997 election after beating Moi's Reuben Chesire. He was appointed to the position of Assistant Minister in the Office of the President by President Daniel Arap Moi in 1998 and in August 2002 he was promoted to be Minister for Home Affairs.
"When I won, we became friends," Ruto reminisced.
Ruto went on to become the secretary-general of Moi's very own party, KANU, and the MP for Eldoret North Constituency for three terms until 2013.
He would then team up with fellow ICC indictee Uhuru Kenyatta under the Jubilee Alliance to launch a successful campaign in the 2013 general elections trouncing the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) led by Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka.
