How Ruto seeks a share of Kalonzo's turf as six-day tour starts

President William Ruto begins his tour of Ukambani today in what is seen as a charm offensive to slice a pie of the region's vote ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

As the President's delegation crisscrosses the three lower Eastern counties of Machakos, Kitui and Makueni, talk on the ground is whether the tour will convince the Kamba community to cast their lot with him. 

The region is predominantly a Wiper Party zone, whose leader, Kalonzo Musyoka, has indicated that he is going for nothing short of the presidency in 2027. The former vice president has held a firm grip on the vote-rich region since he unsuccessfully ran for the presidency on the ODM-K ticket in 1997.

Dr Ruto's visit is therefore being watched keenly, and has been viewed as a calculated, high-stakes scheme by the President and his Kenya Kwanza team to make incursions into Kalonzo's backyard in an attempt to politically destabilise the opposition leader. 

The first stop will be in Kitui West, where he will commission the Kwa Siku - Migwani - Mbondoni road, which stalled three years ago. Here, the President will be walking with a spring after bagging the area Wiper MP Charles Nguna, who last week aligned himself with the UDA camp. 

Ruto welcomed Nguna at State House on Friday after the MP publicly announced that he was currently working with the so-called "broad-based government".

The legislators, who were accompanied by a delegation from Mwingi North, claimed he had requested the President to complete the section of the road that forms part of the Kibwezi - Kitui - Mwingi road.

"I'm now in broad-based government, and my voters support me. This is the only way I can get development for my people," he said.

He, however, claimed that he had not ditched Wiper, but said his chances were open.

"If they want to dewhip me for working with the government, so be it. I will show my people direction in 2027," he said.

Another key project being launched in Kitui is the Zombe-Mwitikaa road in Kitui East, the Sh700 million stadium, as well as a multimillion-shilling 40 metric ton liquified petroleum gas storage facility at the Kitui Teachers College. 

The Head of State is also expected to launch the tarmacking of the Ikutha-Muthaa road in Kitui South and commission of Kitui affordable housing.

On Monday, the President will lead Mashujaa Day celebrations at the Kitui Stadium, an occasion Kalonzo says is a symbolic handover of power to him.

Other goodies lined up include the carpeting of Ukia-Wote road and Wote affordable housing in Makueni county. In Machakos, President Ruto is expected to commission tarmac works for the Kangundo - Mwala road as well as affordable housing. 

With these projects, and many other promises the president is likely to make, Ruto's key allies in the region think that the community will have a reason to support the Kenya Kwanza administration.

The big question, however, is whether the President’s point men like Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Principal Secretary Jonathan Mueke (Kitui), and MPs Vincent Musyoka, Mwengi Mutuse, Nimrod Mbai, Caleb Mule and Fabian Muli will deliver the Kamba vote.

Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua says Ukambani is solidly behind the Wiper leader.  "Ruto's charm offensive will become a cropper. The Kamba nation has joined the rest of the country to ensure that Ruto will be a one-term President," he said, adding that the people of Ukambani are entitled to development like other regions. 

"Ukambani is part of Kenya, and so the development initiatives being undertaken by the Ruto administration are not a favour to our people; it is a right," says Wambua.

On Tuesday, Mutuse said the President was motivated by the desire to fulfil his national duty. “President Ruto is a visionary leader with a clear plan on what he intends to do to transform Kenya,"  said the Kibwezi West MP. "Equally, we must put the country before regional and tribal considerations.” 

Musyoka, the Mwala MP, cautioned the community against remaining in the opposition. 

"President Ruto is doing transformative development in Ukambani. We will no longer follow a man who has kept us in opposition for 20 years," he said in a clear dig aimed at Kalonzo.

President Ruto is betting that the allure of roads and title deeds and the promise of development projects will finally outweigh the powerful emotional and political solidarity the region has traditionally reserved for the former VP.