Speculations and uncertainties surround the underneath reasons as to why President William Ruto was forced to bow to ‘unfavorable political circumstances’ to put on hold his Ukambani tour for the second time in two months.

The President was scheduled to start a three-day visit in Machakos, Kitui and Makueni counties from Wednesday to Friday next week in what was seen as an attempt to penetrate into a region politically believed as dominant for Opposition Wiper Democratic Movement (ODM) party headed by former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

Impeccable sources faulted minority regional UDA leaders, politicians and government officials charged with organising the President’s tour for lack of influence and capacity in reaching out and incorporating the majority leaders in the programme for fear of being overshadowed.

“Doubtfully most of Ruto’s regional politicians and leaders lack the drive to coalesce the majority of the community and rally them together for a common purpose. They also suffer from inferiority complex. There is also internal supremacy wrangling among local senior officials in the Kenya Kwanza administration,” one source confidently told People Daily.

This came moments after the President on Wednesday rescheduled his Ukambani development tour to a later date to give room for a broader engagement with regional leaders.

Ruto said he held a consultative meeting with leaders from Machakos, Makueni and Kitui counties at State House, Nairobi where discussion zeroed on critical infrastructure projects, including roads, water, education, affordable housing, and markets that are essential to the region’s transformation.

“We are aligning our development agenda with the priorities of the people through continuous consultation with leaders and stakeholders. Our objective is to deliver inclusive growth from the bottom going up,” the President said.

However, Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua, said this is the second time in two months that he is hearing that the President has postponed his tour of Ukambani. He said he is not even sure what it is that he was coming to do.

“But as I have said many times, Ukambani is in Kenya and Ruto is the President of Kenya. He can visit and/or postpone his visits as many times as it suits him,” Wambua said.

The Wiper Senator said the only thing he has insisted on is that the Kamba community is not interested in empty promises and insults. “We are a peaceful people and all we want is peace to prevail before, during and after the visit,” Wambua said.

Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr said he was not aware of the visit.

Mutula said residents called him when it was announced on radio yesterday.

“The administration appeared to be unaware of the itinerary. The church leaders , professionals and all elected leaders should be involved” the governor said.

He said the National Government has not started any new projects in the Ukambani. “This is an issue that should be on the agenda”, the Wiper governor said.

Labour CS Alfred Mutua said after a highly successful consultative meeting with the President at State House on Tuesday, it was agreed that a broader engagement with leaders should be held before Ruto’s visit in the region.

Mutua said the meeting with broader leadership will be held at State House next Wednesday.

“As such, the tour has been rescheduled and new dates will be communicated after the wiser leaders’ meeting,” the CS said.

Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse said the President has consequently invited the three regional Governors, Wavinya Ndeti (Machakos), Julius Malombe (Kitui), Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni), all elected MPs, MCAs, clergy, professionals, women, youth leaders for the Wednesday meeting on May 21 at State House.

After the consultations, the inclusive meeting will decisively set the new date for the President’s visit.

“When the President hosted us at state house, it was collectively agreed that he needs to do more consultations in order to reach a broader population of the people of Ukambani. In the tour, the President will be launching completed projects and inspecting ongoing projects as well. It was therefore, as well, necessary to allow the different ministries time to speed up their processes to achieve this objective,” Mutuse said.

In the meantime, a State House Coordination Director, Boniface Musambi, added that Wednesday’s meeting served as a strategic precursor to the Presidential development tour of Ukambani, which was initially slated for May 21 to 23.

“The primary objective was to craft a clear and actionable roadmap for the highly anticipated tour. After extensive and robust deliberations, we unanimously agreed to postpone the tour by one month,’ Musambi said.

He said the extension will allow the President to convene an expanded planning session with broader representation from Ukambani leadership. That follow-up meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday.

A former Kitui Senator David Musila declined to discuss the issue when asked for opinion. “Remember sometimes back at Kyamboo Secondary school you sought my opinion about the President coming to Kitui for Mashujaa Day. I declined and gave you reasons. The same applies today,” Musila said.