Willy Paul Tasks Ruto To Fulfil 3-Year-Old Promise

Nairobi-based musician and songwriter Willy Paul, real name Wilson Abubakar Radido, on Tuesday, July 11 compelled President William Ruto to honour a promise he made when they met on October 28, 2020.

The Lalala hitmaker had appealed to the Head of State to fulfil his pledge and appoint him to a government office in an effort to bolster the creative space in Kenya.

To ensure that the President did not have an excuse for reneging on his promise, Willy Paul shared a screenshot of Ruto's Twitter post which depicted their meeting at the Karen residence when Ruto was serving as Deputy President at the time.

President William Ruto with musician Willy Paul on October 28, 2020, at the Deputy President Karen residence. /DPPS

"Dear Mr President, I know you're a man of your word. Not just that, you're also very God-fearing. Men of God don't lie and i've never seen you lying to anyone.

"Now, remember this tweet? We agreed to partner and make the industry bigger and better. I'm now ready for the office we talked about," stated the musician.

The strategic meeting coming less than two years prior to the August 9, 2022, general elections was Ruto's move to expand his 'hustler' ideological brand to the Kenyan creative industry.

Ruto met Willy Paul at the Karen residence and furthermore announced a collaboration between them to support young creatives in the country, specifically partnering to promote the growth and development of the industry.

“We are investing in the dreams of young people through creative arts with the appreciation that music, dance, drama, and more can promote positive and powerful economic and social transformation in our society.

“During an engagement with Wilson Abubakar Radido, popularly known as Willy Paul of the popular hit song “Sitolia”. We agreed to partner in our journey to make the creative economy flourish, Karen, Nairobi County,” wrote Ruto at the time.

Notably, no further details were revealed regarding the partnership nor the position Willy Paul claimed he was offered.

Since then, the Head of State launched the Talanta Hela programme at State House in Nairobi on Friday, June 9, an initiative meant to promote youth's creativity and talents.

The initiative has been digitised following the launch of a talent search digital platform, the Talanta Hela application, which is aimed at making the process of scouting for creatives across counties, nurturing them and monetising their skills much easier.

In simple terms, talented Kenyans can now have their craft discovered, be it sports or creatives, through the app which is available for download through the Google Play Store for Android users and the App Store for Apple iPhone users.

The program will also collaborate with other organizations that are already doing great work in sports and the creative industry. This includes working with the Ministry of Education to utilise sports, music, and drama festivals.

Read more: Download The Talanta Hela Govt App & Submit Your Talents In 5 Steps