President William Ruto returned to his Rift Valley backyard on Wednesday and made a passionate appeal to voters in the region to rally behind him in the 2027 poll.
Dr Ruto toured Bomet and Kericho counties in the South Rift region where he sought to assure the residents that his administration had not sidelined them in development.
In what is clearly an attempt to secure his backyard ahead of the next general election, the President urged young people to register as voters and turn up in large numbers to help him clinch a second term.
"I am appealing to the 1 million voters in Rift Valley who have not registered as voters, some of whom have not acquired national identity cards, that your vote matters a lot in development of this country. Do not take it for granted" Dr Ruto said.
The Head of State said, "It can not be that I am going round the country seeking for support from other regions when in my own backyard you have not registered as voters and do not have national ID cards. You can not be talking of two terms or one term when you are not a registered voter. This narrative has to change."
"Your job is simple. Sacrifice a day to vote for me on the election day, and I will work for you for five years. Is there any loss in that?" he posed, and went ahead to profess his love for them.
"I will be back soon because a lot of work is pending...I am so happy and I love you so much. You're great people," Dr Ruto said.
The tour comes in the backdrop of claims his administration has sidelined the region in development despite their having voted for him overwhelmingly in the last general election besides backing his political agenda over the years.
A week ago, he made a two-day visit to the neighbouring Narok and four days forays into Kajiado, which he concluded on Monday.
The President's tour comes at a time when there are questions about 15,000 families who were evicted from Mau forest and left out of compensation process in Narok South constituency. The affected families have demonstrated in the last two weeks demanding to be compensated by the government.
A total of 13,000 families were compensated with Sh200,000 each two weeks ago with another 2,000 families who were living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Narok South having been given Sh300,000, after which the tents were demolished.
While 61,000 families were evicted from the Mau complex in 2019 during former President Uhuru Kenyatta, 28,000 were registered as internally displaced persons last year and were expected to be compensated.
On health, the President said 33 million people had been registered under the Social Health Authority (SHA) since the change over from the defunction National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
"The Community Health Promoters (CHPs) employed by the government have visited 9 million homes as we seek to change the narrative on the health sector that now caters rie all" said Dr who was accompanied by Cabinet Secretaries - Aden Duale (Health), Davis Chirchir (Roads), Alice Wahome (Lands and Housing) and Hassan Joho (Mining and Blue Economy), and Principal Secretary for Water Julius Korir.
"Bomet county has registered 701,000 people under SHA out of a population of 800,000 with hospitals having received Sh 3.2 billion from the authority which is one of the highest in the country" Dr Ruto stated.
Failure by his administration to implement the multibillion Bosto dam and the controversy over the site for the construction of a South Rift referral hospital are some of the issues he is expected to address.
Bomet County Assembly became the second devolved legislative house that he addressed after a similar one recently in Nairobi county assembly.
Dr Ruto commissioned the newly built Bomet County Assembly chambers and said during his address that the assemblies played a key role in policy formulation and rolling out of development projects across the 47 counties.
The President said he was committed to implementation of the devolution agenda and service to the people across the 47 counties.
"I am proud we passed a new constitution making devolution what it is today. A chamber like this is not reality in many counties, you in Bomet stand tall. This is the second chamber I have addressed; I can tell you this is the best" Dr Ruto stated.
The President said he has enjoyed partnership and collaboration between national and county, especially Bomet on policy and legislation. "We should move forward that way"
He unveiled the 220 Affordable Housing Units in Bomet and said another 2,000 will be constructed in another two months in the town and another 1,000 in Sotik and Longisa trading centres . He said 300,000 housing units in the country are under construction.
"I am a believer in fairness, equity and equality principles of which are entrenched in the Constitution 2010 and even the Bible," He stated.
A market that will cost the government Sh360 million to accommodate 1,500 will be constructed in Bomet town.
Drama played out in the President's tour as Governor Hillary Barchok was shouted down by the residents in Bomet town due to the acute water shortages.
The Governor's speech was cut short as the residents shouted and waved down as the President took over the microphone.
He announced that Sot Technical Institute in Bomet East constituency would be elevated to a national polytechnic and that it will be allocated Sh 50 million in the interim for expansion.
