Exposed: How Ruto avoided ‘hostile’ areas in Mt Kenya visit

President William Ruto’s recent six-day tour of Mt Kenya was tactfully planned to avoid heckling, protests and other ugly incidents, the Nation can reveal.

Prior to the visit, it has emerged, some areas were mapped out and marked “too hostile” for the President, and were avoided at all costs. The President gave a wide berth to some constituencies in Nyeri, Murang’a, Laikipia and Embu that he was initially to visit but were flagged as flash points.

Coming at a time when impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was gaining a following in the region, nothing was left to chance, with the strategy being to mobilise friendly crowds to welcome the President. The most conspicuous was Dr Ruto avoiding Mathira in Nyeri County, a constituency where he garnered 63,715 votes, with pundits suggesting the snub was due to the bad blood between him and Mr Gachagua. Mr Gachagua, who was his lead campaigner in 2022.

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The presence of MP Eric Wamumbi in Dr Ruto’s entourage on Saturday was equally interesting because he was not allowed to address crowds in Nyeri and Othaya towns, with sources confiding that it was deliberate to avoid humiliation. This was after National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichungw’a, who is among leaders perceived as “sellouts” in Mt Kenya, was heckled and forced to cut short his speech in Olkalau, Nyandarua County. Similar scenes were witnessed in Kiambu, where Woman Representative Ann Muratha was heckled.

Earlier, during an interview on local TV stations, Dr Ruto had enumerated several development projects he had initiated in Mathira and hinted he would inspect and commission a fresh produce market in Karatina.

Mr Wamumbi had, during interviews before the visit, said Dr Ruto would inspect markets in his constituency and commission some roads built by the Kenya Rural Roads Authority.

During his Mt Kenya tour, Dr Ruto resided at Sagana State Lodge in Mathira—a walking distance from the now famous Wamunyoro village, the rural home of his former deputy. However, Dr Ruto’s itinerary skipped the constituency. He instead visited Kieni, leaving Mathira locals with many unanswered questions.

Residents who spoke to the Nation said the President should have ignored “excuses” about the “bad mood” of residents, and made stopovers to greet the people. “It appears the feud between Mr Gachagua and President Ruto is far from over, but I’m one of those who believe that the President is free to visit any part of the country, the differences with any local leader notwithstanding,” said Mr James Kibira Ngunyi, a former area MCA. “Mathira voted overwhelmingly for the President; it is not someone’s fiefdom and he should not be intimidated by anyone.”

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The entry point in scaling the mountain was Laikipia County, the home to former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga and The Service Party leader Mwangi Kiunjuri, both astute crowd mobilisers. Mr Njenga did not, however, make a physical presence during the tour, but he is on record asking his followers to give necessary support to the Kenya Kwanza administration and its allies.

On December 31 last year at Kabiruini grounds in Nyeri, he warned that his “boys” would protect the President and his deputy, Kithure Kindiki, as they strategised about how to counter Mr Gachagua. The President also avoided projects that had not been allocated funds, fearing that they would be turned into a laughing stock. In Laikipia West, he skipped a scheduled visit at the County Aggregation and Industrial Park (CAIP) in Rumuruti, leaving dozens of people who had turned up to welcome him stranded. The Laikipia CAIP was launched on September 18, 2023, by then Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria, with a promise that it would be completed in six months to create 3,000 jobs.

But work halted a few weeks later, with the project now in a state of abandonment amid claims of the government’s failure to allocate funds. Last year, a senior official in the Laikipia County’s Trade Department told the Nation in confidence that the national government had not remitted any money, leaving the devolved unit to finance the multimillion-shilling project alone.

A sub-contractor, who spoke to the Nation on April 1 when the Dr Ruto was supposed to inspect the project, said although there were workers on-site, little money was trickling into their accounts.

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“The county government has pumped in Sh180 million, but so far, the national government, which was supposed to contribute half of the Sh500 million cost, has not remitted a penny,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Initially, Dr Ruto was scheduled to visit the site, which covers 100 acres, but his handlers made a last-minute change to avoid embarrassment due to unfulfilled promises. What was striking about the Nanyuki visit was that it was concentrated within a radius of about one kilometre, around the main bus terminus, an area Dr Ruto would visit when he was deputy president.

“If local MPs are so confident that the President enjoys genuine support here, they should have included the town’s main stage as some of the areas to visit to greet wananchi. By only taking him to enclosed areas, it’s a confirmation the ground is hostile to the President,” opined Mr Stephen Wangai, a Nanyuki trader.

Dr Ruto avoided Gichugu and Kirinyaga Central. Gichugu is People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua’s backyard. In Embu, he did not tour Manyatta, the home of Gitonga Mukunji, his critic. Gitile Naituli, a professor at Multimedia University, said the tour was an indication that Dr Ruto had lost significant ground in the region. “The tour should be a learning experience for him.”

Reporting by Gitonga Marete, Stephen Munyiri, Mwangi Ndirangu and George Munene