In 2007, Deputy President William Ruto, then Agriculture minister almost lost his life in CS Fred Matiangi’s Kisii backyard.
Ruto, who was then a close Raila Odinga ally and infact a member of ODM’s Pentagon was on the Campaign trail with then MPs Omingo Magara, Chris Obure and Chria Machage
The leaders were out to attend a youth Harambee function convened by Mr Nyachae at Nyamarambe, South Mugirango Constituency.
They would however run into a group of rowdy youths who were later identified as members of the outlawed Chinkororo sect.
They reigned havoc on Ruto and his friends. Ruto even lost his shoe in the whole scene of chaos, shoes that would later be looked for to help retore peace.
A group, Youth for Peace, would later look to auction the footwear and then use the proceeds to support its peace-building initiative among the Kikuyu, Kisii and Kalenjin communities in Rift Valley.
Relations between the three groups were strained by the political divide during the election period.
“Mr Ruto’s shoe is not ordinary based on the role that he played in the ODM party leadership. This is why we are looking for it to auction it and support our programmes in peace building,” said the group at that time.
Their resolve was triggered by the auction of a shoe belonging to an Iraqi journalist, who threw it at former US President George Bush.
The youth group’s leaders, Richard Kirui, Francis Mogoon and Julius Maiyo, said the fate of Mr Ruto’s shoe was unknown and extended an olive branch to the outlawed members of Chinkororo militia to surrender it as one of the reconciliatory steps.
“No one knows where Mr Ruto’s shoe went as we saw him board his chopper and return to Nairobi barefoot. We got curious on how best we can use it to spearhead the reconciliation process,” said Mr Kirui.
They said that the alliances among leaders of various communities could be strengthened at the grassroots by incorporating the youth in peace building.