Why DP Ruto was taken to task in Kericho during campaigns

Jubilee's performance in the past three years came into sharp focus during the campaigns for the Kericho Senate seat.

Leaders and residents from the region were unhappy about the failure of the Government to implement key development projects it had promised them in the run-up to the 2013 General Election.

Those opposed to Jubilee Alliance Party candidate Aaron Cheruiyot accused Deputy President William Ruto of sidelining the region in terms of development and favoritism in State appointments.

This led to the residents coining the phrase 'jamaa wa tumetenga' (he of we have set aside) to refer to Ruto because of the unfulfilled promises for the region.

Leaders led by Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi, who led the Kanu campaigns for Paul Sang, said the DP neglected the region soon after ascending to power.

"We are not against anyone but all we are asking is for the people to be freed from the yoke of dictatorship, embrace all tenets of democracy and demand for equitable distribution of resources," said Ruto.

Kericho residents lining up to vote for their senator at Highlands primary polling station in Kericho town at 6 am in the morning of March 7,2016.Low turnout has been witnessed in many polling stations in the county. (PHOTO: KIPSANG JOSEPH/ STANDARD)

Others who were in the Kanu candidate campaign team included the party's Secretary General Nick Salat, senators Stephen ole Ntutu (Narok), John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot), Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills), Oscar Sudi (Kapseret), Emurua Dikirr's Johanna Ngeno and former Kipkelion MP Magerer Langat.

Keter said the people were protesting against skewed allocation of resources and unfulfilled promises by the Jubilee administration as the next polls draw closer.

"At this time and age, I am yet to see another government that lies to its people after installing a president and his deputy. It is crazy, it is scary," Keter said.

 The pledges

Sudi said the Jubilee government had taken the people of Rift Valley for a ride for far too long.

"Our people have been sidelined in the allocation of resources since the Jubilee administration ascended to power and we will no longer take it lying down," he said.

Ng'eno said people at the grassroots had woken up to the reality that they had been used in the last General Election to install leaders who did not have their interests at heart.

The pledges include construction of 200 kilometres of roads, delivery of machinery for a pineapple factory in Bureti and milk cooling plants worth over Sh300 million.

Rehabilitation of the historical Kapkatet Stadium at a cost of Sh200 million was also a key topic in the campaigns.

The DP, who led an intense campaign in the county, was at pains to explain to the people that the Jubilee government had not abandoned them and that his critics in the region were out to bring him down politically and bar him from ascending to the presidency in 2017.

"We are focused on what we are doing. We are implementing what we promised Kenyans during the last election," said the DP during a leaders' meeting at the Kericho Tea Research Foundation Centre in Kericho County. He added: "We have started to deliver on the promises including free maternity facilities and affordable education."