President Uhuru Kenyatta will score dismally in the larger Gusii region as long as he sticks with his Deputy William Ruto, reckons Prof Nyachieo Bogonko.
The duo visited the region a week ago to open a series of projects but Mr Ruto failed to seize the opportunity to ‘apologize’ over 2007/08 post lection chaos according to him.
“Uhuru will not win elections from Gusii land at large if he still sticks with Ruto. That is a fact and 2017 results will vindicate me however much they launch various projects around here,” he said.
“Ruto failed to seize the opportunity during the recent trip and reconcile with locals by apologising to them over the 2007/08 chaos despite his vindication by the ICC,” added the Political scientist.
He said many locals still believe Mr Ruto played a major role leading to their eviction from most parts of Rift Valley during the hotly contested polls.
“I am not trying to say he is guilty because that is the deliberations of the court but the public court still blames him over the chaos," said Bogonko.
"He hasn’t taken time to survey and it’s sad those leaders who are close to him never say the truth,” he said.
“Ruto and the President should have addressed the issue of IDPs exhaustively for the sake of reconciliation but that never happened. Most of them up to date believe Ruto was behind their woes and I think that cannot end soon unless he comes in style to cleanse his name otherwise Kenyatta will not score from Gusii on the mere fact that they still blame Ruto,” he added.
Jubilee trailed Cord in 2013 polls and the ruling coalition has been trying to make inroads to the region ahead of 2017.