Africa-Press – Kenya. President Uhuru Kenyatta is said to be planning a tour to the Rift Valley region in July, at a time when he does not see eye to eye with his deputy William Ruto.
The visit to the region is much awaited, coming less than a year to the next General Election.
Rift Valley is the backyard of Ruto and supported Uhuru for the top seat contest in 2013 and 2017. It was believed Uhuru would return the favour and support Ruto in 2022.
However, as things stand, the president has fallen out with his deputy and is focused on the handshake with ODM leader Raila Odinga.
Following Uhuru’s planned tour, Ruto’s strong ally and former Majority Leader in the Senate Kipchumba Murkomen said that the visit is overdue.
In a post in his Twitter account, Murkomen said that Ruto’s allies from the region will attend Uhuru’s meetings, contrary to the public perception.
“Rift Valley region under the leadership of DP Ruto has voted for Uhuru Kenyatta four times. For four years he has been missing in action in the region,” Murkomen said.
The Elgeyo Marakwet Senator added that they have many questions touching on projects and governance.
“We shall be there under the leadership of William Ruto who led us to him. I can’t wait.”
The handshake saw the birth of the Building Bridges Initiative that was meant to create all-inclusive governance, which was to be realized by amending the Constitution through the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2020.
The initiative was however quashed by the five-bench judges of the High Court. The judges ruled that the entire process was unconstitutional.
Unhappy with the ruling, the BBI proponents moved to the Court of Appeal seeking to overturn the High Court’s ruling.
The hearing of the appeal started on Tuesday and will end on July 2.
