Ruto Called Salva Kiir — The Next Day a Private Jet Was Sent to Pick Up This Kenyan Designer

The Nairobi designer, Sir Bonnie has spoken openly about how President William Ruto connected him to South Sudan President Salva Kiir, setting off a chain of events that took him from his studio in Kenya to the inside of a foreign state house, arriving by private jet and leaving with dollars in his pocket.

"They used to send a private jet for me, and I would be taken to South Sudan to take measurements of the president," he said. 

"Sometimes they would ask me to meet them at the airport."

From the moment he landed in Juba, the treatment was unlike anything he had experienced. A convoy picked him up and drove him directly to the state house.

Kiir was not alone when he arrived ministers were also present, all waiting for the Kenyan designer that the President of Kenya had personally recommended. Sir Bonnie was not just a tailor who had been hired. He was a guest who had been vouched for at the highest level.

The work was extensive. He made a significant portion of Kiir's Kunda suits, designed outfits for women in the presidential circle, and handled consultations that paid the equivalent of KSh 10,000 dollars before a single measurement was taken.

Between assignments, he was housed in quality hotels and taken on tours of the city. The materials he worked with sourced from Hong Kong and Thailand were delivered to him in Nairobi, and he would return to Juba a week later with the finished pieces.

"I was escorted in a presidential way," he said.