President William Ruto on Monday, March 31, 2025, evening arrived at the Sagana State Lodge ahead of the highly anticipated Mount Kenya regional tour which will see him traverse nine counties in the expansive, vote-rich region.

A video seen by People Daily Digital showed the president interacting with residents of Kiganjo town in Nyeri after he landed at the presidential residence in readiness for his five-day tour of the area.

“Mimi niko hapa wiki moja na tunapangapanga maneno,” Ruto said. (I will be here for a week as we coordinate plans for the region.)

Ruto is expected to begin his tour of Mt Kenya, where he is set to launch completed projects in Nyeri, Laikipia, Meru, Kirinyaga, Nyandarua, Murang’a, Embu, Tharaka-Nithi and Kiambu counties.

Project inspection and launch

Among the projects Ruto is set to launch, inspect progress of or commission, include roads, affordable housing units, markets and industrial parks in the region.

Equally, the president is expected to issue title deeds in Kieni and Tigania, inspect the construction of the Ksh500 million County Aggregation and Industrial Parks in Laikipia and Kiambu counties.

Ruto is also expected to launch water and sanitation projects in Meru and Embu counties and also inspect livestock feedlots in Tigania and Imenti during his tour, among other projects.

The regional tour comes just days after Ruto met Mt Kenya region’s governors at State House in a meeting which was skipped by Nyeri Governor Mutahiga.

Gachagua factor

The tour also comes just six months after Ruto oversaw the impeachment of his former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua after an acrimonious fallout which saw the erstwhile political friends turn against one another.

The regional tour is set to be received with mixed reactions, noting the political realignments which are expected with the removal of Gachagua from the executive.

In an earlier address, Gachagua advised the Mount Kenya residents to accept the money which will be distributed during the week-long tour of the region but warned against taking the cash home.

“Don’t worry. Get ready, money is coming in bags. Take it, but don’t go home with it; it is cursed. Eat that money at the market. Do not mix it with the money you already have. If you have a loan with a shylock, use that money to pay it off,” Gachagua said.

Over the weekend on March 29, 2025, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen warned the youth against chanting ‘Ruto must go’ noting that such people will be promptly arrested as has happened in other regions.