The South Rift region is increasingly becoming a battleground for presidential candidates ahead of the August 10, 2027 General Election.
President William Ruto kicked off a two-day tour of the region on Monday with a focus on Narok County, just four days after his ally turned fierce critic, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua , campaigned in the area.
A week earlier, Jubilee Deputy Party Leader and presidential hopeful, Dr Fred Matiang’i, made a similar visit to Narok where he asked residents to rally behind him.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), which traditionally had a huge following in the region during the era of former party leader, Raila Odinga, appears to have ceded a lot of ground to the ruling party, Jubilee and Mr Gachagua’s Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP).
Dr Ruto toured Narok North, Narok South and Narok West on Tuesday, and he was expected to head to Emurua Dikirr Constituency, where he would be hosted by newly elected MP David Keter of his United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
This is the first trip that the president is making after the hotly contested May 14 by-election in which Mr Keter replaced former MP Johana Ngeno, who died in a chopper crash on February 28, in Mosop, Nandi County.
As leaders go on a vote hunt in the South Rift region, Narok, Bomet, Kericho, Narok and Nakuru counties are becoming major battle grounds for President Ruto and his opponents.
While addressing residents of Narok, Dr Ruto defended his frequent foreign trips, which have drawn a lot of criticism. The president maintains that the trips will benefit Kenyans.
But his critics say the trips have become too expensive to taxpayers, and they leave the president with little time to deal with issues affecting the country.
Dr Ruto claimed that tourists have increased from 1.4 million to 2.7 million annually because of strategic marketing of the tourism sector and his foreign trips, with his administration seeking to raise the numbers to five million annually.
“I have elevated the status of Kenya on the global stage with the United States, France and G7 recognising the country. This has brought results. There is a rise in foreign investments and tourists,” he said.
The president also told residents that the new airport and other infrastructure being built in the area will open up Narok County to investment, development, and also create employment opportunities for locals.
Dr Ruto also touched on issues around the Mau Forest Complex, which has been depleted and illegally subdivided.
“What we are focusing on now is protecting and conserving the Mau Forest by erecting an electricity fence around it. We must all come together and support the conservation efforts,” Dr Ruto said at Olposimoru, Ololulunga, and Eneng’etia on Monday.
The president announced that 20,000 teachers will be employed at the end of the year as his administration seeks to address the ever-widening gap in the learner-teacher ratio in public schools.
“We have employed 100,000 teachers in the last four years, and 23,000 classrooms have been constructed as we seek to make education affordable for all,” he said.
“The funding model for Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) and universities is being streamlined to enable all learners from poor backgrounds to benefit from the available funding.”
Recently, the President admitted that the university funding model that his administration rolled out to replace Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) had failed, and a new system would be introduced.
Leaders present; Senator Aaron Cheruiyot, Narok Governor Patrick Ntutu, ex-governor Samwel Tunai, Narok Woman Representative Rebecca Tonkei, Narok North MP Agnes Pareiyo, Kitilai Ntutu (Narok South), Nominated Senator Joyce Korir and Joseph Tonui (Kuresoi South) said that residents of the South Rift would not back the opposition.
“I promised to change the narrative and development trajectory of the country, and we are on course to achieve that and make Kenya an economic powerhouse”, the president said.
“The agenda of my administration is to unite Kenyans and initiate development projects without favour,” he added.
He said, “It does not matter what my opponents keep saying in public as they take pot-shots at me, as I will remain focused on our development agenda as a government. We will keep engaging the people so that we can open up and upgrade key roads, expand electricity supply”
He listed the government development agenda in Narok County, saying it had put Sh8 billion into Affordable Housing, Sh2 billion into the construction of markets, hostels for Sh3.5 billion, Sh2.8 billion for rural electrification, billions into road construction, among others.
He said his administration would subdivide the 10,000-acre land in Kedong in Narok to the local community as part of an effort to sort land issues, with over 4,500 land title deeds issued in some parts of the county.
He said his administration was constructing an international airport in Narok County which will be ready for opening in the next two months.
“A total of Sh4.8 billion has been set aside for rural electrification to 15,000 homes in addition to the 14,000 new connections that have already been achieved in Narok County,” Dr Ruto said.
Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot led local leaders in taking a jibe at former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over claims the South Rift region, especially members of the Maasai community, were solidly behind him.
“Claims by Mr Gachagua that members of the Maasai and Kipsigis communities would rally behind him and DCP in next year’s poll is that of a man who is completely removed from reality on the ground. He is actually hallucinating.” Senator Cheruiyot said.
Senator Cheruiyot said, “What the DCP leader (Gachagua) should be reminded that he was impeached by Parliament and cannot lead this country”
The leaders – Narok Governor Patrick Ntutu, former Governor Samuel Tunai, Narok Woman Representative Rebecca Tonkei, Narok North MP Agnes Pareiyo, Kitilai Ntutu (Narok South), Senator Joyce Korir (nominated) and Joseph Tonui (Kuresoi South) said the residents of the South Rift would not back the opposition in the next general election.
Mr Ntutu said the UDA grip in the region had expanded with most of those who were in other parties having defected and more would cross over ahead of the next general election.
Battleground for political parties
Ms Pareiyo and Mr Kitilai said members of the Maasai community were fully behind the government that had opened up Narok and Kajiado to development, more than any administration since independence.
“There are leaders dreaming that members of the Maasai and Kipsigis communities will support the opposition in the next general election. We are telling them that they will be shocked when the vote is cast and counted in the 2027 poll,” Ms Tonkei said.
President Ruto’s tour elevated the area as a battleground for political parties and Presidential hopefuls in the next general election, with residents being a key voting bloc ahead of previous general elections.
Mr Gachagua said last Friday in Emurua Dikirr constituency that DCP had a huge following in Narok County and the South Rift region, with members of the Maasai and Kipsigis communities having abandoned the UDA party as a result of unfulfilled promises and a failed development agenda by President Ruto.
“I want to assure you as my supporters that we are going round the country seeking support from voters and marketing DCP. Let us walk together in this journey and ensure that we liberate Kenya from the hands of those who have failed you,” Mr Gachagua said.
Mr Gachagua said he plans to tour the US next week to seek support from Kenyans in the diaspora, who will be voting in the 2027 general election, then return for campaigns in the South Rift.
“After my tour of the US, I will resume my tour in the South Rift with rallies across constituencies in Bomet County, then go to Kuresoi South and Kuresoi North in Nakuru County as I seek support from members of the Kipsigis community with whom I have a close relationship,” Mr Gachagua said.
He added, “You can rest assured that after my tour to the South Rift, President Ruto and his people will troop in with development projects they have not been able to implement despite the pre-election and post-election promises”
Dr Fred Matiangi, the Jubilee Deputy Party Leader and Secretary General Moitalel Ole Kenta also held a rally in Narok town last week to seek support from the residents of the area. Dr Matiangi is Jubilee’s Presidential flagbearer while Mr Kenta is a Narok Gubernatorial candidate.
The Jubilee leaders said President Ruto had failed to unite the country and was preoccupied with calling the opposition names, using derogatory language against them – instead of competing on issues.
"As a rule of thumb, as President, you cannot insult and threaten the people.
Sometimes our President (Dr Ruto) uses terms in public I can't use even as an ordinary citizen in private," Dr Matiangi said.
Dr Matiangi said, "We only have one president answerable to us, and we have a right to ask him questions as citizens of this great country. But when we do that, we are met with insults from the Head of State"
