President William Ruto turned a simple football match into a moment of unity and friendship on Friday when he hosted the English Premier League (EPL) Trophy tour at State House, Nairobi, and spoke of how football has long united people across political divides — even him and the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Ruto recalled their common love of the London-based team, Arsenal, and how they shared many jokes and laughs about the team’s fortunes and misfortunes, which he said brought them closer together.
“We lost one of our big Arsenal fans, Raila Odinga. We really feel that we lost somebody who was always in the game with us,” Ruto said, clearly moved. “Whenever we were not discussing difficult matters, we would talk about how not so well we were doing — but I’m happy things are looking up for Arsenal,” Ruto said.
