Kalonzo in focus as Ruto plans four-day Ukambani tour
President William Ruto launches a four-day development tour across Kitui, Machakos, and Makueni counties, stepping directly into Kalonzo Musyoka’s political stronghold.
Wiper Patriotic Front (WPF) leader Kalonzo Musyoka is expected to dominate talks as President William Ruto pitches tent in his Ukambani political backyard for four days, starting Saturday, October 24.
The Head of State is expected to use the charm offensive to showcase his development scorecard in Kitui, Machakos and Makueni counties while wooing a region that has voted overwhelmingly for opposition leader Raila Odinga in the last three General Elections.
The tour will start at Mbiuni Township in Machakos County, where President Ruto is set to commission a Sh1.7 billion Mwala Cluster Water project initiated by his administration in 2024.
The project, funded by the African Development Bank, is designed to serve 270,000 residents spread across Mwala and Matungulu constituencies.
Around midday, he is scheduled to commission Kyambeke-Kikoko Road, issue title deeds and launch Wote-Kako-Ngoluni Road in neighbouring Makueni County before flying to Kwa Vonza Township in Kitui County, where he is scheduled to address a rally and launch the Kwa Vonza-Kanyangi-Kyandula road.
On Sunday, President Ruto is set to worship at AIC Kasina in Mwingi Central Constituency before heading to the Nguni area in the same constituency to inspect ongoing works on 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 of River Enziu swept away the bus they were travelling in to a wedding in the region.
A major highlight of President Ruto’s tour of Ukambani is the upgrading of a dusty road leading to Mr Musyoka’s rural home.
Tarmacking of the Kandwia-Kyuso-Tseikuru road is scheduled to start on Monday, the day President Ruto is set to launch the construction of hostels at Tseikuru Technical Training Institute.
The Head of State has repeatedly used the road leading to Mr Musyoka’s doorstep 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.
He will also address a rally at Kora Township and issue title deeds.
The tour comes at a time when Mr Musyoka has led his allies in claiming credit for some of the infrastructure projects undertaken by the national government. A case in point is the ongoing tarmacking of Kwa Siku-Migwani-Mbondoni Road, which is part of the Kibwezi-Kitui road project undertaken by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Read:Mr Musyoka says he initiated the road project while serving under President Mwai Kibaki. In Makueni County, Aviation and Aerospace Development Principal Secretary Teresia Mbaika has clashed bitterly with Kaiti MP Joshua Kimilu over who should take credit for the construction of Kenya Medical Training College hostels at Kilungu, a Sh250 million project that President Ruto is scheduled to launch.
The tour is likely to reignite debate over President Ruto’s concerted efforts to penetrate a region widely seen as Mr Musyoka’s political bastion.
On several occasions, President Ruto has vowed to ensure that the Ukambani voting bloc, which boasts around two million votes, joins him in forming the next government.
The remarks are understood to underscore President Ruto’s commitment either to intensify efforts to court Mr Musyoka ahead of next year’s General Election or to work directly with the people of Ukambani without going through the former vice-president, who has declared his 2027 presidential ambition. President Ruto is betting big on infrastructure development in his bid to woo the vote-rich Ukambani bloc.
“Although we voted elsewhere, President Ruto has developed the Ukambani region in a way that no other regime in history has done. We should consider paying him back in the 2027 General Election,” Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse said recently when he led a team of President Ruto’s allies in addressing grassroots leaders at Kako Township in Makueni County.
Mr Mutuse cited ongoing efforts by President Ruto’s administration to complete Thwake Dam, at the confluence of the Athi and Thwake rivers, after the government secured Sh10.6 billion from the African Development Bank to complete the first phase of the Vision 2030 flagship project.
He also cited accelerated rural electrification, the construction of affordable houses, markets and hostels across major towns in the three counties, and the tarmacking of major roads across the region.
Key roads whose tarmacking is underway include Kwa Siku-Migwani-Mbondoni Road in Kitui County, Makaveti-Iiyuni Road in Machakos County and Emali-Matiliku Road in Makueni County.
The Head of State is set to conclude the tour with the groundbreaking ceremony for a clinker cement factory owned by Devki Group at Ngaie in Mwingi North Constituency.
He is also set to flag off rural electrification and the tarmacking of Kandonge-Masinga-Kithyoko Road at Kithyoko Township in Machakos County, and commission the Kenya Medical Training College campus at Matuu Township in Machakos County.
The tour comes at a time when President Ruto has expanded his team of lieutenants in the Ukambani region, signalling his readiness to eat into Mr Musyoka’s political support.
The expanded team includes former State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita, who is eyeing the Machakos governorship, former Kenya Medical Training College chairman Phillip Kaloki, who is in the race to unseat Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior, and former Kenya Medical Supplies Agency chief executive Andrew Mulwa, who has joined the race to unseat Makueni Senator Daniel Maanzo.
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