President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses residents of Ikonge in Nyamira on Tuesday. [Photo/ PSCU]
Although voters in the Gusii region – Nyamira and Kisii Counties – have in the past supported Opposition leader Raila Odinga, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s development record in the past four years is threatening to turn the area into a battleground. As the president tours the region, which largely supported the CORD coalition during the 2013 general election, he has a large number of development projects that he can rely on in asking the Abagusii people to support his re-election bid. One of the key projects is the upgrading of the Kisii Level 6 Referral Hospital to a major health facility, which has helped residents avoid making trips to Nairobi hospitals to seek medical attention. In neighboring Nyamira County, nearly Sh300 million have been spent in improving the main health facility to a level 5 hospital. During a recent interview at Egesa FM, the president cited multi-billion shilling roads projects he has commissioned, such as the Sh1.9 billion Mogonga-Kenyenya-Riokindo-Magenche-Mariba-Nyagancha-Ebegere-Daraja road, the Sh2 billion Marani road and the Sh547 million Mosobeti-Kebirigo road in Nyamira. President Kenyatta said that apart from the roads already launched, the national government in on course to construct 200km more of roads in the region. On electricity, the president’s administration has connected 410 primary schools to electricity in Nyamira and 750 in Kisii within three years. As part of the government’s effort to equip local youth with useful skills, the president told Egesa FM, he had commissioned Ekerubo Gietai Technical Training Institute in Nyamira. Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i, who has been campaigning for President Uhuru Kenyatta in Gusii, is arguably the best performing CS in the Jubilee administration. He has told voters in the region, where he comes from, that should the people not vote for the president in the August general election, he stands to lose his job as the only CS from Gusii, and the Abagusii stand to lose a lot as the president as a good chance of being re-elected even without the region’s support. "Do you want to sack me before I accomplish more for the community and the nation? It's very simple to do that: just wake up on August 8, go and vote for the Opposition. You shall have sent me home by so doing," Matiang'i told the Gusii voters during a rally, as quoted by the Standard. "What we want to stress to you is that if you don't vote for Uhuru's re-election, then it will mean that we also lose our jobs. And the Jubilee government will be in power for the second term, whether you (Gusii electorate) vote for Uhuru or not," The Standard quoted the CS, who was accompanied by Youth Enterprise Fund CEO Josiah Moriasi, as saying. Some of the other members of the Guise community occupying prominent positions in government include Chief Justice David Maraga, Prof Ratemo Michieka (Kenyatta University Council chair), Omingo Magara (Centre for Multiparty Democracy chair), Moses Nyakiongora (Secretary of the National Building Inspectorate), Walter Nyambati (Jomo Kenyatta Foundation chairman) and former CIC chairman Charles Nyachae. The number of voters in both Kisii and Nyamira counties stand at around 800,000, and with the voters willing to consider politicians with a good development record, some analysts have listed the region as a battleground between NASA and Jubilee, an assertion the Opposition has dismissed. The president’s other major project in the region is the upgrading of Suneka-based airstrip into a major airport in the region.