Ruto takes the sponsor war to Nyanza — and finds a warmer welcome than his opponents expected

The president’s five-day tour of opposition heartland delivers KSh700B in project launches and a fresh political attack on Kenyatta, while Kisumu crowds complicate Linda Mwananchi’s narrative

By James Mwangi

President William Ruto is midway through a five-day tour of Luo Nyanza — historically the country’s most reliable opposition territory — commissioning projects, courting grassroots leaders and continuing his sustained public campaign to brand former President Uhuru Kenyatta as the hidden financier of the forces gathering against him ahead of the August 2027 general election.

The tour, which runs through Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay and Migori counties, combines inspections of government projects, launches of new developments and political engagements in a region that has become increasingly important to the president following the broad-based cooperation between UDA and ODM.

As part of what was presented as a KSh700 billion package of development projects for the region, Ruto commissioned the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Project in Kisumu Central constituency and the construction of the Rabuor-Chiga road in Nyando constituency.

The development optics are deliberate and substantial. But it is the political battle running beneath the commissioning ceremonies that is drawing the sharper attention.

Speaking in Kisumu on the second day of his tour, Ruto hit back at Linda Mwananchi leader Edwin Sifuna over claims that Kenya’s slums are primarily an income problem rather than a shortage of housing, dismissing the argument and saying Sifuna was getting his economics wrong. He also responded directly to Sifuna’s claims that the government intended to allocate affordable houses to police officers. “They also say we will divide these houses and allocate them to the police. Let me tell you, we have planned 20,000 houses for police officers already,” Ruto said.

The exchange is the latest chapter in a confrontation that Ruto has deliberately widened to include Kenyatta. Speaking earlier in Eldoret, the president was unambiguous about where he believed the opposition’s resources were coming from. “I want to ask you. When you look at those people, their sponsor, didn’t he fail on the issue of affordable housing? Didn’t he fail on Universal Health Coverage? Didn’t he fail on educating our children?” Ruto told residents. He followed that with a direct accusation: “Now he has gone to organise his proxies, sending people here to come and compete with me.”

The accusation has become so routine that it now functions less as news and more as a running subplot of the 2027 campaign — Uhuru the sponsor of Jubilee and Linda Mwananchi, Uhuru the puppeteer, Uhuru the financier of bloggers against the government. Ruto is not alone in making the argument. Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot has accused the Linda Mwananchi convoy of being financed by “that retired man.”

The accusation has a significant vulnerability, however. When Ruto was challenged in a newspaper interview to substantiate his repeated assertions that Kenyatta was sponsoring the opposition, Sifuna said the president admitted his only source was media reports. “That guy who supposedly holds all of Kenya’s intellectual capital was asked a very simple question, to provide evidence that Uhuru is the sponsor of the opposition, and he said he only read about it in the newspaper,” Sifuna said.

Jubilee Deputy Party Leader Fred Matiang’i has strongly refuted the claims, urging Ruto to cease blaming others and seek alternative explanations. Sifuna has maintained that the movement relies on support and contributions from ordinary Kenyans and other well-wishers, not Kenyatta’s personal resources.

Kenyatta’s own response has been pointed. At the 23rd memorial service for former Vice President Michael Kijana Wamalwa in Kitale, when supporters erupted in cheers as he mentioned Sifuna’s name, Kenyatta said: “Whenever citizens decide they want Kalonzo, it is Kalonzo. If they say they want Ruto, it is Ruto. If they say they want Matiang’i, it is Matiang’i. If Kenyans want Sifuna, then Sifuna it will be. Please be careful. I do not want to be called a sponsor. I do not want those many issues.”

The strategic logic behind Ruto’s Nyanza tour is as important as the political combat. Only days before Ruto’s arrival, Sifuna was mobilising supporters for a major Linda Mwananchi rally at Nairobi’s Jacaranda Grounds, while Rigathi Gachagua was touring the United States positioning the united opposition for 2027. The movement has built much of its momentum around one central argument: that public dissatisfaction with Ruto is translating into unstoppable political energy.

President William Ruto in Kisumu.

Then Kisumu happened. The optics complicate that narrative. If Ruto can attract large crowds in the symbolic heart of Raila’s movement, opposition strategists may need to rethink how they frame their “people versus government” message. The broad-based cooperation between UDA and ODM continues reshaping Nyanza politics, with Cabinet Secretaries John Mbadi and Opiyo Wandayi now occupying senior positions in Ruto’s government.

Ruto’s visit comes as the government rolls out more than KSh220 billion worth of projects across Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay and Migori, covering roads, housing, markets, health, water and other infrastructure. The scale of the investment is a calculated argument in itself — that the government is delivering for a region that did not vote for it, and that political loyalty should follow economic results.

Senator James Orengo has meanwhile said he plans to hold more grassroots meetings across Nyanza, including town-hall gatherings, to explain why he believes Ruto should not be re-elected, citing the growing presence of the Linda Mwananchi movement in Homa Bay, Kisumu and Siaya as evidence that mobilisation on the ground is already underway.

The contest for Nyanza is therefore fully joined, and it will be decided not by a single tour or a single rally but by a sustained competition between a government offering development and an opposition offering accountability. Ruto’s crowds in Kisumu this week have given his campaign a useful image. Whether that image translates into votes when the ballots are counted next August is a different question entirely — and one that the people of Nyanza will answer for themselves.

The post Ruto takes the sponsor war to Nyanza — and finds a warmer welcome than his opponents expected appeared first on The Mt Kenya Times.