Ditch Kalonzo and the opposition, I am your best bet in 2027: Ruto charms Ukambani

By  Pius Maundu

Correspondent

Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

• President Ruto said the opposition, to which Mr Musyoka belongs, lacked a clear plan to transform the Ukambani region.
• Throughout the rallies addressed by President Ruto and his entourage, Mr Musyoka received a generous share of attacks.

President William Ruto started his four-day tour of the Ukambani region on Saturday with a call on the region to ditch Wiper Patriotic Front leader Kalonzo Musyoka and the opposition, and instead support his 2027 re-election bid. 

The Head of State said he had the region’s best interests at heart.

Addressing a series of rallies after commissioning, inspecting and launching roads, water, hostels and rural electrification projects in Kitui, Machakos and Makueni counties, President Ruto said the opposition, to which Mr Musyoka belongs, lacked a clear plan to transform the Ukambani region.

“There are some people who assume the Ukambani region is theirs for advancing vomwe and vetwe politics,” President Ruto said at Mbiuni Township in Machakos County, referring to Mr Musyoka’s political mantra. 

“I am here to tell you that you should not accept to lag behind. Ukambani has suffered many years of marginalisation. We are teaming up to form a broad-based government which shall unite all Kenyans, including the people of the Ukambani region,” President Ruto said.

“You should reject any group which will come here to promote discrimination and tribalism. They will say, ‘these are cousins and those are enemies. These ones belong to the Mountain but those others belong to another place. These ones come from the hinterland.’ That is outdated politics. It is foolishness. We are all brothers. We belong to one nation,” he went on.

Throughout the whistle-stop rallies addressed by President Ruto and his entourage on the first day, Mr Musyoka received a generous share of attacks.

“Imagine someone who has been a vice-president uses a dusty road to his home,” President Ruto said at Kyambeke Township in Makueni County.

Ukambani political kingpin

In a marked change of heart, he blamed previous regimes for the dusty Kandwia-Kyuso-Tseikuru road. 

Dr Ruto accused previous regimes of sidelining the Ukambani region in their development plans as he outlined deliberate measures to address the problem.

The Head of State has previously used the dusty Kandwia-Kyuso-Tseikuru road to mock the Ukambani political kingpin, arguing that he had failed the leadership test by failing to upgrade the road leading to his home despite holding plum government positions for many years under previous regimes. 

Tarmacking of the road is set to start on Monday, the day President Ruto is scheduled to launch the construction of hostels at Tseikuru Technical Training Institute.

The two projects are among infrastructure projects worth more than Sh150 billion that President Ruto has lined up for Kitui, Machakos and Makueni counties.

President Ruto commissioned the completed Tawa-Itangini Road and launched the Wote-Kako-Ngoluni Road and Kyambeke-Kyuasini-Ukia Road in Makueni County. 

At Kwa Vonza Township in Kitui County, the Head of State launched the tarmacking of the Kwa Vonza-Kanyangi-Kyandula Road.

“We are going to transform the Ukambani region through infrastructure projects and development programmes. We must join hands so that this region does not lag behind in terms of development,” President Ruto said at Kyambeke Township in Makueni County.

The Head of State is banking heavily on the infrastructure projects to flip the vote-rich region, which has voted overwhelmingly for opposition leader Raila Odinga in the last three General Elections.

“As we construct roads in other parts of the country, we shall construct roads in Kitui, Machakos and Makueni counties. We have set aside Sh21 billion for tarmacking 10 new roads in Machakos County and Sh16 billion for tarmacking seven new roads in Makueni County,” he said.

At the same time, the Head of State said that his administration had set aside Sh28 billion in the 2026/2027 financial year to construct 8,000 affordable housing units, 6,000 hostels and 18 markets in Machakos County.

At Mbiuni Township, President Ruto commissioned the Sh1.47 billion Mwala Cluster Water Project, which is designed to address water shortages by supplying 6.6 million litres of water daily to Kangundo and Mwala constituencies in Machakos County.

The outing saw Yatta MP Robert Basil decamp from Mr Musyoka’s camp to join President Ruto’s. The first-term MP termed President Ruto a redeemer of the Kamba community, while Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka rallied the region behind the President’s re-election bid.

On Sunday, President Ruto is scheduled to worship at AIC Kasina in Mwingi Central Constituency before heading to the Nguni area in the same constituency to inspect ongoing works at the River Enziu Bridge.

On several occasions, he has pledged his administration’s commitment to completing the bridge, where 31 members of a Catholic church died in 2021 after raging waters in River Enziu swept away the bus they were travelling in to attend a wedding in the region.

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