Kenya, January 09 2026 – President William Ruto is expected in Othaya Constituency, Nyeri County, on Sunday in a visit heavy with political symbolism, as he seeks to consolidate support in the vote-rich Mt Kenya region amid simmering local discontent over stalled development projects.<\/p>\n
The Head of State will officiate the opening and dedication of the ACK Kariki Plaza in Chinga Ward, attend a worship service at ACK Kariki Church, and preside over a fundraiser aimed at reconstructing the church. Othaya is the home constituency of the late former President Mwai Kibaki, Kenya\u2019s third Head of State.<\/p>\n
Local leaders and residents say the visit presents an opportunity for the President to account for his development record and outline his plans for the area as the country edges closer to the 2027 General Election. Former National Intelligence Service (NSIS) director and Othaya resident Esau Kioni said no part of the country should be treated as politically restricted.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo leader is barred from coming to Othaya for development programmes. The people here understand very well what they want from government and what leadership entails,\u201d Kioni told\u00a0Dawan Africa. Kioni, who is also served as a security advisor to the late Kibaki, added that Othaya voters would judge leaders on performance rather than rhetoric.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey produced the third President of this country. Those seeking leadership positions in 2027 must tell us what they will do for development and how trustworthy they are in fulfilling their manifestos. Trust is earned through deeds,\u201d Kioni said. \u201cThe people of Othaya will be in a better position to gauge him accordingly because we know there are many promises that have been made,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
However, a section of residents expressed frustration, accusing the national government of neglecting key projects initiated during President Kibaki\u2019s tenure. Samuel Wambugu, a resident of Othaya town, said the constituency had not benefited from flagship national programmes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not seen the President or any senior official launching an Affordable Housing project here. The Changachicha Water Project is incomplete, and farmers downstream lack water for domestic use and irrigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also cited stalled road projects. \u201cThe Mau Mau roads have stalled after the contractor left the site. Generally, we feel the President has neglected projects left by our late President Kibaki.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kenya, January 09 2026 – President William Ruto is expected in Othaya Constituency, Nyeri County, on Sunday in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[63,1100,1104,854,1102,1107,1109,1106,1098,1096,1101,1103,1108,1105,1094,302,83,1099,1028,1095,321,262,1097,80,96,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-12759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-african-business","10":"tag-african-culture","11":"tag-african-development","12":"tag-african-economy","13":"tag-african-education","14":"tag-african-entertainment","15":"tag-african-healthcare","16":"tag-african-media","17":"tag-african-news","18":"tag-african-politics","19":"tag-african-society","20":"tag-african-sports","21":"tag-african-technology","22":"tag-analysis","23":"tag-breaking-news","24":"tag-business","25":"tag-continental-news","26":"tag-current-affairs","27":"tag-dawan-africa","28":"tag-east-africa","29":"tag-economy","30":"tag-horn-of-africa","31":"tag-kenya","32":"tag-news","33":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}