President William Ruto has shared that the late President Daniel arap Moi trusted him deeply during his early days in government, granting him a direct telephone line to State House—a rare privilege at the time.
Speaking at the launch of retired Cabinet minister Major (Rtd) Marsden Madoka’s memoir “At The Ready” at State House, Ruto revealed that he was the only Assistant Minister with such access.
“That phone had no secretaries; if it rang, you knew it was the President himself calling,” Ruto said. “He would say, ‘Where are you? Come and do this and that.’”
Ruto reflected on how his relationship with Moi evolved from friction to friendship. He recounted how Moi once dismissed him as one of the “characters running around” during his first parliamentary campaign in Eldoret. Despite Moi’s lack of endorsement, Ruto won the nomination against the odds.
He recalled that his fiery speeches in Parliament initially earned him the label of a “noisy” legislator, but Moi later came to appreciate his passion.
“Moi used to say this young man is noisy, but he speaks sense,” Ruto noted with a smile.
The President credited Bishop Ezekiel Yego of the Africa Inland Church (AIC) and other elders with helping mend ties between him and Moi, urging him to show respect to the Head of State.
Ruto also paid tribute to Marsden Madoka, describing him as a mentor who instilled discipline and patience.
“Madoka was my boss and mentor. Moi showed me that leadership is not about where you come from but how you serve,” he said.
He lauded Madoka’s memoir as a valuable record of Kenya’s political evolution and urged today’s leaders to embrace excellence.
“We cannot continue to make peace with mediocrity,” Ruto said. “We must raise the bar and move from the ordinary to the extraordinary.”
