Meet the tallest man in Kenya's parliament

Standing at 6.5 feet tall, Geoffrey Kiringa Ruku popularly known as GK Ruku, the MP-elect for Mbeere North is used to the stares he gets.

The 43-year-old could be the tallest MP in Parliament. When we caught up with him in Embu town, Ruku jokingly said "his height would help him have a clear political view within Mt Kenya region."

"I have never had a problem passing through any doors and reckon Parliament will be no different either," said the MP-elect.

"I was a school captain in primary school and at Siakago Boys High School but I can't say it was my height that made the teachers settle on me," he said in an interview.Ruku added that while he there were other tall boys in his school, he was always the tallest. He goes on to add that height and management have some correlation.

"Studies conducted by the Harvard Business Review Journal found that tall people made better managers in politics and the corporate world while short people like Adolf Hitler make worst leaders," he said.

He is a past chairman of the Mbeere University Students Association (Musa) during his days at the University of Nairobi.

Currently doing a Ph.D. at the University of Nairobi's Wangari Maathai Institute of Peace Studies, Ruku vied for a parliamentary seat two times but lost to advocate Muriuki Njagagua in 2013 and 2017.On his third try and vying for the Democratic Party (DP) that is currently headed by the Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi, he trounced Njagagua with about 600 votes.

In 2013, he was a member of URP but President Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto agreed to Zone Rift Valley and Mt Kenya zones of their respective parties - the URP and TNA stealing the thunder from his run.

"It was a gentleman's agreement and my boss then (Ruto) could not allow to be seen as the one going against the same. I, therefore, had to jump ship and vie for MP on Federal Party of Kenya (FPK) headed by Cyrus Jirongo," Ruku explains.

FPK decided to support ODM leader Raila Odinga a few days before the election.

"On the eve of the election and without my knowledge, my opponents printed and displayed posters with my portrait and that of Raila Odinga who was not popular in my region and that's how I lost."

In 2017, Ruku went to the nominations on a Jubilee ticket for Embu Senate but lost to Njeru Ndwiga in what he claimed was a bungled process.

He immediately shifted to Mbeere North to face Njagagua but it was too late to catch up and he lost for the second time.

The conservationist said this year he prepared early enough, was focused, and consistent and that's how he trounced the opponent who was seeking a third term with about 600 votes.

Ruku graduated from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in 2002. He later joined the University of Nairobi where he graduated with a Post-graduate Diploma in Diplomacy and international relations in 2005, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Finance in 2009.

He is the founder of Carbon Manna Africa, an NGO advocating for democratizing carbon offset to the household level in Kenya.

He is also the founding director of Climate Pal Ltd, a joint venture company (Carbon Manna Africa and Eco Act) that implements Carbon emissions reduction projects in Kenya for green growth Development.

He garnered 17,069 votes beating three other candidates including the incumbent Muriuki Njagagua of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party who managed 16,422 votes, Jubilee Party's Dr Patrisio Njiru who garnered 2,390 votes, and Njuki Ngari of Devolution and Empowerment Party (DEP) who got 1,873.

The tallest man in Kenya

However, Ruku may not be the tallest man in Kenya, after all. Sometime in 2015 as the then-Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto was flagging off a drugs consignment from Kenya Medical Supplies Authority to hospitals and health centers in the county, one man in the crowd stood out, literally.

The man was 52-year-old Jackson Koskei, presumed to be Kenya's tallest man.

Koskei, a father of four was 7.3 feet tall. Towering over all the men and women in Bomet, he could easily be Kenya's tallest man.

He is only one foot shy of the world's tallest man, Sultan Kosen from Turkey, who stands at 8.3 feet, and taller than Mbeere North MP-elect Ruku by about 9.6 inches.