Kenya’s soon-to-be First lady, Rachel Chebet Ruto, is a prayerful, graceful, and eloquent woman who has kept a low public profile despite her husband’s decades of high-profile presence in Kenyan politics.
When Deputy President Dr. William Ruto was declared the winner of the 2022 Kenyan presidential campaign, his wife Rachel took to Twitter to express her joy. “Congratulations, Bill, my love. God has done it.”
The 53-year-old mother of six, who has spent the past decade as the Second Lady, has forged a name for herself as a prayerful, philanthropic woman since she first stepped foot in the office.
She has utilized her public position to promote numerous women empowerment initiatives such as Carakana and Mama Cycling. Additionally, she’s been known to endorse her religious beliefs by leading televised Sunday services from her residence in Karen.
However, like many wives of high-profile politicians, some of the spotlights Mrs. Ruto has found herself under resulted from her husband’s actions as opposed to her own.
Rachel Chebet was born on November 20, 1968, in Kakamega County. She attended Likuyani Primary school and went to Butere Girls High School, where she attained her O and A level education. In 1988 Rachel was accepted into Kenyatta University, where she would earn a Bachelor of Education degree.
Before going to the University, her family relocated to Sugoi in 1985, where Rachel’s older sister Lydia Kimetto Musee is said to have introduced her to a young William Ruto.
Although she found Ruto to match her sister’s piety and ambition, Lydia questioned whether he’d be able to charm his way past Rachel’s “difficult and almost inapproachable nature.” Ruto himself felt as though he had to distinguish himself due to “stiff competition” from other potential suitors.
Nevertheless, a romance blossomed between the two, and they continued to see one another despite attending different universities– Willam went to the University of Nairobi.
After graduating, Rachel took up a teaching position at Kessup Girls in Elgeyo Marakwet, where Ruto is said to have walked every day from his home in Sugoi to woo her. He also made an effort to learn Luhya to win Rachel over.
On December 21, 1991 (which also happens to be Ruto’s birthday), the couple married. The couple would have six children; Nick, Stephanie, June, Charlene, George, and Abby.
Although she had enjoyed a teaching career, Rachel became a stay-at-home wife after her husband implored her to focus on raising their growing family. When her husband first became deputy president in 2013, Rachel teamed up with outgoing First Lady Margaret Kenyatta to spearhead several initiatives focused on empowering women financially.
Most notably, Mrs. Ruto has worked with Joyful Women Organization (JOYWO), through which she promoted table banking programs that allowed members of JOYWO to operate financially in a cashless and paperless way.
Her love of cross-stitching prompted her to found Carakana, a social enterprise encouraging women, specifically those incarcerated, to produce quality handmade crafts to attain income. In an interview with KBC, Rachel explained that the inspiration for Carakana came from her mother.
“Cross-stitch is a passion. This passion I saw with my mother many years ago, and I wondered whether it’s possible to frame it and preserve it,” Rachel said.
From 1997 until 2013, Rachel tried to cross-stitch at least a few hours at the end of each day. She found it to be a calming and therapeutic activity that could help women attain economic independence.
In 2020, Mrs. Ruto founded Mama Cycling, a cycling club meant to promote healthy living and help other women connect. She has even gone so far as to use her platform to advocate for legislation to implement cycling and pedestrian lanes on Kenyan roads.
Rachel’s passion for women’s empowerment cannot be fully understood without the context of her Christian faith. As Second Lady, Rachel has famously led the National Prayer Altar from her home in Karen, where she worships with friends and family.
RACHEL RUTO IS A PRAYERFUL WOMAN
RACHEL’S COMMENTS STIR CONTROVERSY As a woman of God, one of the ways Mrs. Ruto has sought to help the next generation of women is by offering advice from a Christian perspective. In 2018 during a celebratory speech for International Day of the Girl at her alma mater Kenyatta University, Rachel urged female students to focus on their studies rather than finding sponsors.
Sponsors are sugar daddies, who tend to be monied older men seeking sexual relationships with college-age women.
Her religiosity also drove her to start RearGuard, a movement that upholds family values through faith-based programs that “encourage prayer, reconciliation, mentorship, and advocacy.”
“Dignified women do not sleep with every Tom, Dick, and Harry,” she said. “You do not need to get money from a man to survive. Many of these people will only take you for granted. I pray that in Kenyatta University and other institutions of higher learning in our nation, that girls can be resilient to be able to say ‘no’ to sponsors,” Rachel said.
She also launched the Somesha Msichana initiative to encourage young women to take their academic pursuits seriously.
The speech was met with mixed reviews on social media, with some questioning the advice given that Rachel’s husband had been exposed in a sex scandal the year prior and because her husband has been accused of fathering several children with other women.
In 2017, Priscah Chemutai Bett accused Ruto of neglecting to care for their daughter Abby Cherop, born in 2006. While Ruto admitted to being Abby’s father, he vehemently denied all claims of neglect, stating that he had helped Bett secure a high-paying job and supplied her with 40k a month (approximately $400) in child support. The child support amount is shockingly modest for supporting his child, especially considering Ruto is a man of vast wealth known for pouring millions of shillings into harambees.
Rachel, who is such a private woman that she has not much public record before becoming Kenya’s second lady, has never spoken about her husband’s alleged infidelity or domestic abuse.
In an old interview on the Churchill Show, Ruto denied being abusive and stated that any allegation of abuse was a targeted attack on his family by Kenyan media. He praised his wife for her resilience in facing the “unimaginable” stories the press wrote about him.
However, in 2017, the #RutoWifeBeater began trending on Twitter after a former maid of the Rutos allegedly disappeared after reporting that the former DP had beaten his wife. While there have never been any police reports or official statements corroborating these allegations, commentary from Rachel’s contemporaries has helped keep the rumor mill churning.
In a 2021 interview with the Daily Nation, Ida Odinga, the wife of Ruto’s political 2022 elections rival Raila Odinga, remarked that she bore no ill will towards Margaret Kenyatta or Rachel, despite their husbands’ political animosities. She maintained that she was friends with the other women, though her relationship with Margaret was “easier.”
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THE MIRACLE OF TURNING DIRTY WELL WATER CLEAR BY THE POWER OF PRAYER
Regardless of outside opinion, at least publicly, Rachel has maintained the demeanor of a devoted, faithful wife and mother. According to Ruto, she holds his hands and says a prayer every morning before he leaves for work.
In May, the usually reserved woman went viral after a video from one of her services surfaced. In her remarks, the eloquent Rachel claimed to have performed a miracle by making her home’s contaminated water clean through the power of prayer.
After struggling with a contaminated borehole for many years, one day, she decided to solve her problems spiritually.
“I went and decreed the words of Elisha. I went and said this water will never be dirty again, and I spread the salty water around the borehole. It was about to rain, so I ran quickly and went to the house,” Mrs. Ruto said. Allegedly, the next day she woke to find the water had become drinkable overnight.
The video was the topic of widespread conversation, with some praising her spiritual ability and others dubious of her claims.
It’s unclear whether the Rutos still drink water from the well.
The soon-to-be President has said his victory was divinely secured through his wife’s steadfast prayers. On several occasions, the future First Lady was photographed in a prayerful, somber, and reflective mood as she accompanied him on the campaign trail.
Her prayers were answered twice. First, when Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati declared her husband the President-Elect on August 15, and second, when the Supreme Court dismissed Azimio la Umoja’s petition on September 5, clearing the path for him to become Kenya’s 5th President.
Rachel has already proven herself to be the perfect politician’s wife. Her tenure in the State House is sure to be memorable.