President William Ruto on Monday turned his development tour of Kisumu into a fresh confrontation with his 2027 rivals, challenging the opposition to compete with him on projects and ideas as he rolled out a multibillion-shilling package for the traditionally opposition-leaning county.
Ruto, who launched a series of road, water and housing projects in Kisumu, told his political opponents that Kenyans would judge them by what they offered the country rather than slogans and political rhetoric.
He also took aim at the Linda Mwananchi movement, led by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, over its criticism of the Government’s Affordable Housing Programme.
“I hear some people saying they will stop the housing programme. I want to tell them, please don't have a conversation about housing because you don't understand anything about it,” Ruto said in Kisumu.
The President challenged his opponents to explain what would happen to young Kenyans employed through the housing programme if the projects were stopped.
“You say you will stop the housing levy, remove housing funds, stop construction of affordable housing, markets and hostels. I am asking you, if you really have the brains, those 1.1 million young people working under this project, where will you take them?” he asked.
Ruto's broadside came a day after Sifuna and other Linda Mwananchi leaders intensified their campaign against his administration, with the Nairobi Senator declaring that the opposition would remove Ruto from power in the 2027 election.
Sifuna has attacked the housing programme as an expensive solution to what he considers an income problem rather than simply a shortage of houses.
“On housing, Ruto does not understand us. The slums in Nairobi are not a housing problem, they are an income problem. If you give these people money in their pockets they will find decent houses to live in,” Sifuna said during the Linda Mwananchi rally on Sunday.
The senator has also vowed that a future Linda Mwananchi administration would redirect some of the Government's housing programme towards police officers.
Ruto fired back in Kisumu, saying his administration had already planned a separate housing programme for the security services.
“I hear they also say they will divide these houses and allocate them to the police. Let me tell you, we have planned 20,000 houses for police officers already,” he said.
The President's political message was accompanied by a long list of projects which his administration says are transforming Kisumu.
Ruto launched the upgrading of the 12-kilometre Rabuor-Chiga road to bitumen standards at a cost of Sh962 million, providing an alternative link between Kondele and the Kisumu-Ahero road.
He said the national government had allocated Sh23 billion for road projects in Kisumu County, with nine roads already under construction.
The President also commissioned the Sh8.4 billion Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Project, part of the Government's effort to expand water and sewerage infrastructure in Kisumu.
Housing is another major pillar of the Kisumu package.
Ruto said the Government had allocated Sh44 billion for 12,000 affordable housing units, 20 markets and 12,000 hostel beds in the city.
He said the housing programme was not only intended to provide homes but also create jobs, claiming that about 1.1 million Kenyans had secured employment through the programme nationally.
The wider Nyanza development programme includes more than Sh220 billion worth of projects across Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay and Migori, covering roads, housing, markets, health, water and other infrastructure.
Sugar, water and infrastructure
Ruto also used his Kisumu tour to sell his administration's economic record, particularly its intervention in the sugar sector.
Speaking in Muhoroni, he said farmers in the sugar belt were beginning to receive more regular payments and promised that Kenya would move from relying on imported sugar to becoming a net exporter within three years.
“As I speak here in this sugar belt, sugar is beginning to pay once more,” Ruto said.
The President's message was that development, rather than traditional political loyalties, should determine how communities vote in 2027.
He challenged his rivals to present alternative policies instead of relying on slogans, saying the political standard had been raised and voters would judge leaders by their ability to improve people's lives.
The message was significant given that Ruto was addressing a region that has historically been one of the opposition's strongest political bases.
His visit also came less than 24 hours after Linda Mwananchi leaders held rallies in Nairobi, where Sifuna, Siaya Governor James Orengo and other opposition figures openly called for Ruto's defeat in 2027.
Orengo said the opposition should work together behind a single candidate, while Sifuna declared that Ruto would be a one-term President.
