Former nominated Member of Parliament (MP) Wilson Sossion has stated that the welcome President William Ruto received in his Mount Kenya region must have come as a shock to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

Speaking during a live TV show on Thursday, April 3, 2025, Sossion indicated that turnout was testament to the aspirations of Kenyans to the politics of issues.

“Wamunyoros are shocked by the turn of events in the mountain because they had put a lot of premiums on an imaginary rebellion. Kenyans, including Mount Kenya, are strongly appealing to the vision of driving politics based on issues,” Sossion said.

“The president has prosecuted the issues very well in every place he has gone to in the country, and he is driving the agenda of his pillars very well,l and they are being delivered effectively.”

Defends Ruto’s projects

The former MP defended the regional tour of Ruto, noting that the president was in order to launch projects completed through CDF, even as he popularizes his national initiatives.

“We have seen housing projects that are almost complete in various parts of the Mount Kenya region and other parts of the country and those are the initiatives of the president,” Sossion noted.

“Even if there are projects of the CDF, those are projects of the government of Kenya, and it is noble for the president to launch projects that have been completed for use by the public as part of his accountability and mobilizing people towards his developmental targets.”

Adding: “The transformative agenda of the president should not be confused with negative politics. The president is obviously a politician, elected and operating in a political platform to drive the transformative development agenda of the country and that will go on.”

Ruto popular in the mountain

While a section of leaders from the Mount Kenya region played down the numbers seen during Ruto’s visit to the region, Ugenya MP Jared Okello notes that Ruto secured the hearts of the Mount Kenya region way back in 2013, and that loyalty cannot be undone by the dismissal of Gachagua who had just served as a one-term MP and Deputy President for two years.

“The turn is mind-boggling; far from what we have been made to believe, that the president does not control the Mountain anymore. Political tests are done by looking at the turnout of people. If they are not for you and are not with you, they will not turn out as many as we have seen,” Okello said during a TV interview on April 3, 2025.

Ruto is set to continue with his development tour of the mountain, which will span a week and cover the nine counties in the vote-rich region.