After camping in Western, Deputy President William Ruto is now landing in Lamu County today in a mission aimed at spreading his “tangatanga” gospel. The DP is hunting ground for his 2022 presidential bid. He has on several occasions toured Western region which seems to have his strongest opponent, ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi.
Ruto was expected to fly to Lamu yesterday evening after his tour of the Western region.
The DP was to spend the night in Lamu before heading to Pate Girls Secondary School in Faza ward, where he will officially open the school today at 10am, one of Ruto’s aides told a local daily.
Education is one of Ruto’s key focus areas whenever he visits the Coast.
It is believed the region has lagged behind in terms of development because the levels of education are inferior to other parts of the country.
Apart from education, land matters have also been a key issue in the DP’s bid to woo Coast residents to support him in 2022.
In Lamu, he will be hosted by Lamu East MP Shariff Athman, who is one of the MPs who has shown support for the DP’s presidential bid.
Athman said Lamu will accord Ruto one of the best receptions he has ever had at the Coast.
“We will show him that we support his agenda for the Coast region,” Athman said.
On Wednesday, Ruto will travel to Kilifi county to attend the burial of former Kilifi deputy governor Kenneth Kamto.
Kamto’s funeral service will be held at Lugwe primary school in Rabai before the burial at his Bejana farm.
The former deputy governor was shot dead by unknown gunmen last Wednesday.
The DP is then expected to tour parts of Kilifi county where he has wooed most of ODM’s ‘rebel’ MPs.
In Kilifi, he is expected to address the land problems which has been part the residents’ main woes.
Kilifi North MP Owen Baya, one of Ruto’s supporters in Kilfi is likely to raise the Malindi Airport land compensation matter during Ruto’s visit.
“This is an issue that has been giving us a headache. It must be settled once and for all,” Baya told the Star in Malindi.
This will be Ruto’s third tour of the Coast region in three months.
In September, he toured Tana River county before moving to Kilifi, Kwale, Mombasa and Taita Taveta counties.
In Kwale, he issued 2,600 title deeds while Majaoni residents in Mombasa residents benefitted from 3,500 titles.
Ruto’s efforts at addressing the land problems at the Coast are seen as an attempt to endear him to the residents who have been supporters of ODM for many years.
On November 24, Ruto was once again in Mombasa where he hosted Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi at the Mombasa Port where he led him on a tour of the facility.