Nairobi — President-Elect William Ruto took to his social media account on Monday to welcome Supreme Court’s decision to uphold his election victory attributed the decision to God.
Ruto quoted the famous biblical phrase in Mark 10:27 a few hours after the seven-judge bench dismissed the petition challenging his win in a unanimous decision.
“With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” — Mark 10:27,” Ruto said.
The President-Elect who ran for the presidency on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket has always placed God on top of everything else in his quest to ascend to power.
On August 15, Deputy President William Ruto attributed his victory to prayers, saying it would have not been possible to surmount the challenges he faced without divine intervention.
Speaking shortly after he was declared President-Elect at the Bomas of Kenya, Ruto said “I was prayed to victory.”
Ruto has often declared his Christian faith in public and has not shied away from openly expressing his emotions occasionally telling his opponents he had more to thank God for.
The first time Kenyans saw him cry publicly during a prayer session was after he and his then political ally President Uhuru Kenyatta won the 2013 General Election.
Just recently before Kenyans went to vote on the August 9, footage emerged of him during prayers trended on social media after he was seen fighting tears.
“I have been prayed into victory. We were working against the odds, but I must confess it is God,” he said.
“I want to thank members of my team starting with my wife and family and many other prayer warriors in Kenya.”
Ruto was declared President-Elect after sailing past the ’50 per cent plus one’ constitutional threshold that requires a winner in a presidential election to garner 50 per cent of votes cast and an additional vote to avoid a runoff.
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate garnered 7,176,141(50.49 per cent) votes beating his closest challenger, Azimio’s Raila Odinga, who managed 6,942,930 votes (48.85 percent).
The confirmation of Ruto as President-Elect now paves way for his swearing in on September 13.
Article 141 (2) provides: “The President-elect shall be sworn in on the first Tuesday following- (b) the seventh day following the date on which the court renders a decision declaring the election to be valid, if any petition has been filed under Article 140.”