Rift Valley voters getting uneasy

The defeat of the Jubilee candidate by one allied to Governor Isaac Ruto in the by-election conducted in Nyongores ward, Bomet County, was a protest vote against the ruling coalition.

This shows voters from the Rift Valley, an otherwise Jubilee stronghold, are getting uneasy with the regime they overwhelmingly voted for in the last polls.

The mini poll provided a chance for voters to put into reality what they have been voicing through platforms like social media and vernacular radio stations.

The concerns of the locals have been that the region is getting a raw deal since development projects they have been promised year after year are yet to materialise.

{Nicholas Cheruiyot, Bomet}

When Governor Ruto conceived the “Mashinani” initiative as a political philosophy, he may not have known that he was endearing himself to the common man.

For the very first time in living memory, someone high in the political apex was remembering the poor villagers.By drumming up the grassroots campaign, Mr Ruto was in essence speaking the language of the rural poor and identifying with the disenfranchised ordinary Kenyans who felt that development was over-concentrated in urban areas.

As a governor Ruto championed devolution and Kenyans in remote parts of the country strongly believed that with the devolved system of government, critical public services would be devolved.

With devolution as a formidable brand, Governor Ruto curved out a place among the political greats and it was just a matter of time before he proved that he was going to be a force to reckon with.

When the little-known PPPK fielded a candidate in Nyongores ward, no one could ever imagine that it was possible to beat a Jubilee candidate in Rift Valley since the region was believed to be a Jubilee zone. But Jubilee candidate was beaten with such a high margin that confounded even political analysts.

With the Nyongores win, Governor Ruto has already asserted himself as a strong influence in Rift Valley politics and a force to reckon with.

{David Sonye, Rarieda}