Deputy President William Ruto will tour Western today. The visit comes against the backdrop of a meeting between President Uhuru Kenyatta and leaders from Western at State House on Tuesday.
The meeting attended by MPs, senators and governors discussed the development agenda of the region ahead of his visit during this year’s Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kakamega.
The DP has been on a mission to make inroads in the area that voted for NASA in the last polls. Ruto will be in Matungu, Kakamega county, today to preside over a funds drive for women’s groups on the invitation of area MP Justus Murunga.
National Assembly Majority Chief Whip and one of the DP’s point men in Western Ben Washiali confirmed Ruto will also preside over a harambee in aid of Butonge Secondary School in Sirisia constituency, Bungoma county, the same day.
The DP met Jubilee MPs from Western at his Harambee Avenue office in Nairobi on Tuesday to plan his tour of the region today.
The MPs were part of the larger Western leaders’ delegation to State House earlier in the day. Mid-this year, the DP delivered a bus to Tande Secondary School in Kakamega county.
He donated Sh2 million to Mwangaza Primary School and promised a bus to Mwangaza Secondary School in Kakamega in August.
On September 29, he sent Kenya National Union of Nurses secretary general Seth Panyaco to deliver Sh2 m for the construction of classrooms at Daisy Special School and promised a bus for the institution later in the year.
His aide Farouk Kibet last Sunday donated Sh500,000 to St Stephen’s Catholic Church in Shinyalu subcounty and another Sh300,000 for the Malava boda boda fundraiser.
During the State House meeting, the President assured the leaders the Sh700 million owed to cane farmers in the region would be paid and a strategic plan made for the revival of the sugar sector.
Political analyst Martin Andati said the DP considers Western critical to his 2022 bid.
“He operates in Western and Coast because he believes that shares of the vote bloc in the two blocs will strengthen his bid.
This is part of his normal forays he has been trying to make in the region,” he said.
Kakamega county assembly Minority leader David Ndakwa said the DP’s visit was a plot to preempt what the President has promised leaders from the region ahead of his visit so he can take the credit.
“He has been coming here and talking about the revival of Mumias Sugar with little happening. Now that the President has promised that farmers will be paid, he wants to take credit for that,” he said.