Ruto heads back to Raila’s Nyanza bastion

Following his rapprochement with Mr Odinga, the President has made several trips to the region that voted against him in 2022, including his four-day extensive working tour last August. The tour, however, comes in the backdrop of recent mixed signals by Mr Odinga over his working relationship with the President.

MPs from the county, led by National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohammed (Suna East) and Mark Nyamita (Uriri), held a meeting on Wednesday to firm up some of the projects to be launched by the Head of State.

The MPs were also expected for a meeting at State House on Wednesday evening as part of the preparations, according to Suna West MP Peter Masara. Mr Mohammed confirmed the working tour but did not provide details as they were still holed up in a preparations meeting.

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State House Secretary for Public Communication Munyori Buku also confirmed the working tour. He, however, referred the Nation to the area MPs for details of the projects to be launched.

Mr Nyamita listed roads, affordable housing, markets, hospitals as some of the projects the President will launch during the tour. In Uriri, Mr Nyamita said the President is expected to launch Stella-Gogo-Sibuoche tarmac road, 200 affordable housing units and five Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) markets. Other projects in the constituency include equipping of the level 4 hospital at Pinyowacho. The President will also commission rural electrification projects as well as the construction of Migori stadium and the extension of the Lichota airstrip runway.

“We fully welcome the President and we hope the visit will unlock for us key economic sectors in the county. As leaders from this region, we also want to make it clear that we are firmly behind the President, now and in future,” said Mr Nyamita.

Mr Masara said the President will visit Suna East on Sunday where he will attend an interdenominational service at Kadika Primary School. In his Suna West constituency, Mr Masara said, the President will open a newly built sub-county office. He will also open a Technical Training Institute (TTI) in the constituency.

Dr Ruto will on the same day commission an affordable housing project in Kehancha, Kuria East before heading to Rongo, Awendo and Uriri on Monday.

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Following the impeachment of Mr Rigathi Gachagua as Deputy President last October and the subsequent perceived hostility against the administration in Mt Kenya, Dr Ruto appears to have embarked on a strategic campaign to take the Nyanza and Western Kenya voting bloc.

Mt Kenya – a key plank in Dr Ruto’s 2022 election – appears to be drifting away, forcing the President to start making inroads in Mr Odinga’s bastions.

Observers reckon that should President Ruto lose the Mt Kenya voting bloc, he would largely be depending on Mr Odinga’s vote basket. Given Dr Ruto’s narrow win against Mr Odinga in the last election and the struggle so far to retain the Mt Kenya vote, consolidating Western Kenya appears to be a viable strategy for him.

The visit is also seen to be significant for President Ruto as it comes days after opposition leaders, including Mr Odinga, made statements that have confused their backyards over his relationship with the Kenya Kwanza administration.

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Last Friday, Mr Odinga reiterated that ODM was not in government, even as he defended governors James Orengo (Siaya) and Prof Anyang Nyong’o (Kisumu), whose recent outbursts against President Ruto’s administration had stirred the broad-based government.

Mr Odinga’s statement only added confusion on his position under the broad-based arrangement, which has left his supporters guessing. Despite President Ruto appointing his key allies to Cabinet positions and senior advisory roles, Mr Odinga continues to remind his supporters to stay put in the opposition.