In the grand coalition government in which Mwai Kibaki served as the President and Raila Odinga as the country's Prime Minister, William Samoei Ruto served as the Minister of Agriculture.
Ruto was later on sacked by Raila because of the Sh2 billion maize scandal.
Raila said that he sacked Ruto for messing up with the maize issue. He further said the maize which had arrived in the country had been acquired in a fishy deal that puzzled the public leading to the sacking.
Ruto however, refuted the claims and linked his sacking from the Cabinet in 2011 to sugar cartels that worked with Raila.
He further claimed Raila owed Mumias Sugar company and said sugar barons catalyzed his ouster from the Agriculture Ministry by colluding with him (Raila).
Despite Ruto being sacked by Raila, he was later reinstated and appointed the Minister of Higher Education by President Kibaki.
Ruto would later ditch Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to form the United Republican Party (URP) which entered into a coalition agreement with the then The National Alliance (TNA) and won the 2013 general elections to become the Deputy President with Uhuru Kenyatta as President.