Deputy President William Ruto has a large circle of friends, businessmen, politicians and family members who advise him and also further his agenda as he prepares to contest for the presidency in 2022.
For the DP, succeeding President Uhuru Kenyatta is important, drawing from the fact that many of those around him are from the political sphere.
Judging from his rallies, trips and functions, five individuals, three of whom he parades in public and two who work behind the scenes, are very close to him.
1. Abdul Mwasserah
Mwasserah is the coordination and operations secretary in the DP's office. He served as a provincial commissioner in the defunct North Eastern and Western Provinces for a period of seven years.
Holding a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies, Mwaserrah is famous for brokering peace initiatives between feuding communities and restoring harmony in some volatile areas. He also chared a committee tasked to solve the boundary dispute between Kenya and Uganda over the ownership of Migingo Island.
In 2019, the DP sent him alongside his Director of Communication, Emmanuel Talam, to condole with the family of a Budalangi boy who was run over by his convoy.
In 2020, reports alleged that Mwasserah accompanied Ruto to Sudan in a secret chicken farm benchmarking trip.
2. Farouk Teigut Kibet
Known as Farouk Kibet, he is Ruto's most powerful aide as he has called shots in the office of the DP for over the past eight years.
Kibet holds the fate of those seeking Ruto's attention in his hands. Whether at his Harambee House Annex office or at his official Karen residence.
He has also been described as a hawk-eyed and a powerful power broker by several local dailies.
Kibet has severally crossed paths with Ruto's rivals in Kibra who accused him of trying to tilt votes in favour of Jubilee's candidate, McDonald Mariga, who lost to ODM's Imran Okoth in November 2019.
3. Oscar Sudi
His is a story of from grass to grace. He ascended from being a matatu tout to Ruto's confidant.
The Kapseret MP has been a thorn in the flesh of Ruto's allies, due to his staunch defence of the DP.
Sudi is said to be a wealthy businessman with a multi-million empire.
On Saturday, January 18, he gave an insight into DP Ruto's 2022 plan, asserting that time had come for the Rift Valley region to chart its political future.
This was after President Uhuru Kenyatta fired Mwangi Kiunjuri from the Agriculture docket. Kiunjuri is a close ally of the DP.
In January 2020, reports alleged that Sudi, accompanied Ruto to Sudan in a secret chicken farm benchmarking trip.
4. Dennis Itumbi
The digital strategist denied that he worked from Ruto's office, insisting that he was stationed at State House, Nairobi.
In 2019, Itumbi was at the centre of the DP Ruto's alleged assassination plot as detectives linked it to the journalist.
Itumbi usually shares in-depth and crucial information on the DP, such as the Samburu man story or low-key functions the DP attends.
He has also openly expressed his dissenting voice on the Building Bridges Initiative.
In January 2020, Itumbi was teargassed alongside Ruto's allies who were demanding the release of Gatundu South MP, Moses Kuria, following his arrest over an alleged assault.
5. Alice Wahome
The Kandara MP is a vocal defendant of DP Ruto and is the chairperson of Inua Mama, a faction group that reportedly drives Ruto's 2022 agenda.
Ms Wahome was in the spotlight in December 2019, when she held a press conference and publicly criticised President Uhuru Kenyatta, accusing him of economic failure and conducting a witch hunt against DP Ruto's allies.
"I want to tell Kenyans that the biggest existential threat to Kenya's declining economy, democracy, freedom of speech and political association is Uhuru Kenyatta because he is on the driver's seat.
"Raila Odinga is his new mercenary for hire and the BBI report is the special purpose vehicle," she disclosed.
A lawyer by profession, Wahome is a cog in the wheel for the DP's Mt Kenya politicians.
She has been dubbed by many as Ruto's point man.
