Former Ruto ally slams president over Ukambani neglect

President William Ruto’s apparent neglect of Ukambani region since ascending to power has come back to haunt him just a few weeks to his scheduled development tour of the region.

Ruto’s former point-man in the region, former Machakos Town MP, Victor Munyaka now says president Ruto faces a huge trust deficit among the citizens of the lower Eastern region.

The outspoken politician, who has since decamped from Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party and joined Wiper Democratic Movement under opposition chief, Kalonzo Musyoka, says although the president is welcome to tour the region, he will be struggling to endear himself to the residents owing to his neglect of the region since 2022.

“It is not clear why the president called off the scheduled tour from May 21st. Instead, he chose to host some residents for a meeting at the State House. It means he is ashamed of coming to the region because since he became president he has nothing to show. He has toured almost every other part of the country but discriminated against Ukambani,” Dr Munyaka said while addressing mourners in Kalama Sub-County.

The former MP criticized the president’s move to host a group of residents at White House, terming it an exercise in futility. “His main motivation for the State House meeting was to attempt to prepare the ground ahead of his coming, which is too little too late. What we have observed is that he (Ruto) has no interest of the community at heart and his planned tour was an afterthought. All the projects he is planning to visit including Konza City, Thwake Dam, Kibwezi-Mwingi road, Tala-Ol Donyo Sabuk road and many other projects were all initiated by Uhuru Kenyatta,” said Munyaka.

The former MP also took issue with the declining numbers of the Akamba citizens and professionals in key government positions during Ruto’s regime.

“Generally Ruto is ashamed of facing the Kamba community because he gave us a raw deal in the appointments to government positions. The only key person in his appointment is former governor Alfred Mutua who was assigned the Labor docket which is incapable of helping the Kamba community,” he said.

Munyaka predicted that it would be a tall order for Ruto to redeem his popularity in Ukambani given the high expectations of the local residents and the amount of time left to the next general election. “I am not sure the president has enough resources to channel to the region in the remaining short period. Nevertheless, we welcome him to deliver what he can at the moment,” he said.

During the State House meeting, Ruto sought to absolve himself from claims he neglected Ukambani region saying he personally reached out to Kalonzo with the intent of bringing the community onboard. “The first person I looked for after winning the election was Kalonzo, but he declined. That is when I approached Raila. I do not have a problem with Kalonzo,” Ruto said.

However, Machakos deputy governor, Francis Mwangangi while addressing the media separately said Ruto’s State House meeting with a section of local leaders will not cure the resentment people have against his bad administration.

“Development is not found in the State House. Development comes after citizens engage their elected leaders and a budget is appropriated and funded through the treasury. Ruto is merely entertaining political brokers and we will see many of them as we head into 2027,” he said.