The pair received a boost this week after the unexpected withdrawal of a petition seeking a court ruling on whether they are eligible to run, as under a new constitution adopted in 2010 those holding public office and charged with a crime must step down.
However, fresh applications for a ruling have since been submitted.
Kenyatta faces five charges of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, persecution, deportation and other inhumane acts, while Ruto faces three charges of crimes against humanity.
Both have claimed their innocence, remain free and have promised to cooperate with the court.
But some of those affected by past violence suggested the alliance was welcomed, including amongst the several thousand still living in tents or temporary shacks after they were forced from their home in the violence.
Paul Thiong’o, who is waiting to be resettled into a new home around Nakuru, said he had feared moving again if violence were to break out in the upcoming elections.
“We have been worried…that with the elections come a new cycle of violence,” he said. “But if Kenyatta and Ruto work together, we will be brothers,” he said with a smile.
Despite efforts to heal the wounds of the ethnic killings four years ago, tensions still run deep between communities, with many key grievances that fed into the violence – most notably land ownership rights — still unresolved.
Local community leader Joshua Cheruiyot, a Kalenjin like Ruto, has accepted the deal but remains wary of how it will play out, fearful of the fall out if either side fails to adhere to it.
The deal could build peace “as long as the power sharing agreement trickles down to the grassroots for administration and political positions are shared out equally,” he said.
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