Deputy President William Ruto continued his charm offensive to woo regional caucuses with his economic recovery agenda ahead of the 2022 election.
Yesterday, Dr Ruto hosted former councilors from Kajiado County at his official residence in Karen where they discussed the bottom-up economic model and how best to change the lives of constituents.
The DP stated that being grassroots leaders, the former councilors had a great role to play in entrenching economic reforms in their communities.
“We are rooting for an expansive, inclusive and broad-based economic intervention that will give ordinary Kenyans a chance to make a living and create wealth. In the long-run, these signature reforms will boost people’s standards of living and foster the country’s growth sustainably,” said Ruto.
In attendance were MPs Katoo ole Metito (Kajiado South), George Sunkuyia (Kajiado West), Aisha Jumwa (Malindi) and Kimani Ngunjiri (Bahati).
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This is DP Ruto’s umpteenth meeting with regional leaders. On Thursday last week, Ruto held talks with members of Purko Barley Growers Association from Narok County at his Karen home.
The farmers who were accompanied by MPs Lemanken Aramat, Gabriel Tongoyo, David ole Sankok and Soipan Kudate, presented a list of challenges they face and proposed solutions as a condition for supporting the DP.
“We are encouraging agricultural diversification in order to increase farmers' earnings and improve livelihoods. The national and county governments will collaborate in supporting farmers in this endeavor through research, training and resource mobilisation,” Ruto said on his social media pages.
Last week, MPs from Coast allied to Ruto, held a private meeting on Sunday, to deliberate on the economic agenda of the region ahead of 2022.
They deliberated on the special economic zones, blue economy, county housing projects, mining and job opportunities at the port.
They are expected to host the DP in coming weeks. MPs who attended the meeting were Owen Baya, Aisha Jumwa and Mohammed Ali among others.
On May 8, the DP also met leaders from Mt Kenya to discuss how to re-engineer the economy.
Ruto said they are taking collaborative efforts to promote enterprise and foster empowerment of ordinary Kenyans.
Ruto met with three representatives from each of the 11 counties from Mt Kenya as a follow-up to the Masai Mara meeting.
"Through the ongoing consultations covering all regions and all sectors of the economy, we anticipate the generation of more jobs and expanded opportunities for those in the lower cadre will rid our country of poverty," he said.
The DP has also been making inroads in Western where he seeks to eat into the support base of ODM leader Raila Odinga.
Last week, leaders who included one of Ruto’s point men in Nyanza, Eliud Owalo, met in Nairobi to plan what they described as their economic strategy for the region.
They said their strategy will form the basis of their negotiations with other presidential hopefuls ahead of 2022. They said anyone seeking the support of the region will have to enter into a pre-election economic pact with them.
Many former foot soldiers of Raila attended Friday’s meeting convened by Owalo a former aide to the ODM leader.
They include those who decamped after losing ODM nominations in the 2013 and 2017 elections, among them former Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma, former Rongo MP Dalmas Otieno and former Rangwe MP Martin Ogindo.
The politicians claimed that they had the blessings of Ruto to organise the meeting with one of the agendas being to look for ways to attract more Nyanza leaders to the camp.
The strategy also involves attracting professionals who will help compile the economic needs of the region in a document that will form the basis for Ruto’s campaigns in Nyanza.
The group issued a statement saying it was reviewing Nyanza’s economy with the aim of finding ways to improve it.
Owalo accused unnamed leaders from Nyanza of being preoccupied with the pursuit of political power and failing to address the economic problems of the region.
jthiongo@standardmedia.co.ke
