Deputy President William Ruto has moved to stamp his authority in the Rift Valley to shore up his chances of ascending to power come next year.
For two days, the country's second in command camped in Narok and Turkana to campaign for his State House bid just weeks after combing Nandi and Uasin Gishu.
While in Lodwar, Turkana County, the DP promised local leaders that come February 2022 he will sign a memorandum of understanding with them on issues that are dear to residents.
The move is meant to lock out Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) boss Raila Odinga, his main competitor in the 2022 General Election. Raila has had significant support in the county, in the last three presidential elections (2007, 2013 and 2017).
Dr Ruto said if elected president come 2022, he will prioritise agriculture, security, water, health and oil exploration, arguing that Turkana has been neglected for years and time is ripe for it to realise its development potential.
The DP claimed that all his opponents have no clear agenda for the country and are only interested in creating more positions for themselves at the expense of Kenyans’ interests.
“Those who are competing with me have no clear agenda. They are interested in changing the Constitution so that they can share positions instead of how to change the lives of ordinary Kenyans. Do you want to vote for someone who wants to change the Constitution or one who wants to change the economy?
“Some of these people I pushed them to be where they have reached. Will there be a problem if I also elevate mama mboga, boda-boda and unemployed youths?” he posed.
He said all the leaders ganging up against him have served in government before but have no clear track record to showcase to Kenyans “unlike me who have built roads, technical institutions and electricity connection”.
The DP took credit for the Jubilee administration’s successes while blaming its failures on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
“We had a clear agenda, which was to ensure our youths get employment through the roll-out of the Big Four Agenda, but that guy of riddles came in with reggae. However, we thank God that it reached a level of null and void,” said DP Ruto.
Of the five ODM elected leaders—Governor Josphat Nanok, Mr Jeremiah Lomorukai (Loima), Senator Malachy Ekal, John Lodepe (Turkana Central) and Lokiru Ali (Turkana East), Mr Ruto bagged four, leaving Mr Odinga with only Lomorukai.
The former Prime Minister is banking on the support of the Loima MP and Mining Cabinet Secretary John Munyes to lock DP Ruto out of the county.
In 2017, Mr Odinga got 71,063 votes, against 58,744 for President Uhuru Kenyatta.
"We have sat down with your leaders and in either January or February, we will sign an agreement charter on those areas you want to be prioritised so that when we form government, we do not do things based on guesswork," said DP Ruto.
"Our first agenda without any delay come next year, allocate Sh100 billion for housing, agro-processing, value addition, manufacturing and water so that we create job opportunities for our youth.
“Second agenda will be agriculture; here in Turkana, you can grow sunflowers and soya beans free of aflatoxin and we can eliminate the Sh70 billion we spend every year buying edible oil from other countries.”
Governor Nanok, who had decamped to United Democratic Alliance (UDA), said it is only through “bottom-up policies” that the Turkana community, which was previously economically marginalised, can benefit.
“Since our first redemption was the inception of devolution, when you said you will be helping ‘hustlers’, I said this where my people of Turkana should be because we are hustlers and it will be second liberation of pastoralists," Mr Nanok said.
He accused Mr Odinga of “political betrayal” for failing to champion the interests of pastoral communities who have stood with him for years.
“We are fully behind you (Ruto) because there are a lot of benefits, unlike where we were before. That camp (ODM) was full of perennial lies.
“I had asked we vote for Raila, but when he got handshake goodies, where was our share? And since we did not benefit from it, it shows it was deceitful politics and we do not want that again," the county chief said.
