Deliver on election pledges, Rift valley leaders tell Uhuru

Wycliff Kipsang @Pwsang08

Discordant voices are being directed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to fulfill promises he made to Rift Valley in the run-up to the 2013 General Election.

Rift Valley leaders and residents who spoke to People Daily lamented over being sidelined by the Jubilee administration despite their overwhelming support for the party.

In an interview on Sunday, Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, a close ally of Deputy President William Ruto, said it was high time the President toured the region and charts his development agenda as he clears his second and last term. 

“Rift Valley supported Jubilee in 2007 and 2013 almost to a man but we have little to show for that.

There are a number of projects and a few local issues we really need to discuss with the President,” Murkomen said.

 Keiyo South MP Daniel Rono echoed Murkomen’s sentiments, saying  the DP’s backyard has been sidelined since the Handshake between the President and ODM chief Raila Odinga in 2018.

 “We as the Rift Valley people are yet to benefit fully from the Jubilee administration despite our overwhelming support.

Our only appeal is for the President to fulfill his promises, complete pending projects and stop demonising us as the followers of the DP,” Rono said.

Some of the mega projects launched by the President in the run-up to the 2017 election include the Sh5 billion Eldoret by-pass, which was aimed at decongesting Eldoret town.

Some residents displaced to pave way for the project have complained over its slow pace and compensation of those who surrendered their land.

Residents said they have been forced to rent houses in shopping centres after their homes were pulled down. 

They also said they welcomed the project in good faith knowing that it would help decongest Eldoret town and open the region for business opportunities.

President’s promise

  Also yet to be fulfilled is the President’s promise to release Sh1 billion for compensation for 4,000 people displaced to pave way for the setting up of Fluorspar Mining Company in Elgeyo-Marakwet.  

Residents have demanded at least Sh4 million for an acre of land owing to huge losses they incurred.

They said the Sh1 billion is too little and are demanding Sh9 billion after they were rendered homeless from their 9,070 acres of ancestral land.

Maize farmers in the grain basket have also claimed of being abandoned by the State, citing poor pricing and importation of cheap commodity from neighbouring countries, which has distablissed the local market.

  Outspoken Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi has also called on the President to fulfill his promise to support his deputy’s 2022 presidential bid.