Ruto raids Matiang’i’s Gusii turf

 Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday took the political fight to Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i’s backyard by holding a meeting with leaders from the region and forming a team to campaign for him.

The DP met about 60 opinion and political leaders from Kisii County on Thursday.

The forum, organised by South Mugirango MP Silvanus Osoro, was described as “inter-parties”.

It led to the formation of a committee that pledged to campaign for Dr Ruto in 2022. Several ward representatives are members of the team.

GOVERNMENT PROJECTS

Mr Osoro said every constituency in the region gave seven people to the team.

“That makes 56 people. The additional four are members of the secretariat,” he said.

“Dr Ruto met his people to work and familiarise himself with the team.”

The South Mugirango MP denied reports that the team has been formed to lay out plans on how to fight Dr Matiang’i.

Gusii region, which is made up of Kisii and Nyamira counties, had more than 1.5 million voters in the 2017 General Elections, ac-cording to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

Dr Ruto’s popularity in Kisii and Nyamira counties has been on a rapid decline as the Interior Cabinet Secretary’s star rises.

He has had run-ins with Dr Matiang’i, especially after President Uhuru Kenyatta elevated the CS to chair a Cabinet committee to supervise government projects.

Political analysts at the time said the DP’s role had been usurped as he is the principal assistant of the President.

 Influential politicians from the region have been pushing Dr Matiang’i to contest the presidency.

Dr Ruto has in recent months lost a considerable number of key supporters, most of them lawmakers. He has opted for grassroots leaders after the MPs proved unreliable.

LOCKED OUT

Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi, who has been the de facto leader of the Ruto group in the region, appears not to have found his ground after he was locked out of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Consultative meeting in Kisii town January 10.

His absence at the meeting was loud.

Nyaribari Masaba MP Ezekiel Machogu and his Bonchari counterpart Oroo Oyioka, who were staunch supporters of Dr Ruto, switched camps earlier in the year.

The last few months have seen a number of lawmakers who publicly supported the DP take a low profile, with some saying they are safer watching from a distance as events unfold.

Some have been accused of hanging on the DP’s coat tails for handouts while pretending to be his political planks in Kisii and Nyamira.

It is for this reason that Mr Ruto is said to have come up with new tactics to mobilise and galvanise the fast-fading support ahead of 2022.

Early in the year, the DP recruited women at the grassroots to propel his campaign.

Dr Ruto’s political strategists believe women are reliable messengers to reach targeted audiences, especially in deep rural areas.