ADVERT 
ADVERTDear Mr President,
Welcome to Siaya.
This time, perhaps more than at any point since you became President, you are walking into a Siaya that is noticeably less hostile, less suspicious and more willing to listen.
That is significant.
When you came to Bondo to bury the late Raila Amolo Odinga, the political temperature was unmistakable. When you returned to Usenge for the blue-economy programme, the launch of the Usenge Pier and the Dhogoye Bridge project, the political atmosphere was again difficult.
ADVERTBut Siaya today feels different.
And perhaps the most important message from that change is not that Siaya has suddenly become a Kenya Kwanza county. It has not.
Rather, Siaya is demonstrating something more sophisticated: a people can disagree politically with a President and still recognize development when they see it.
That distinction is important.
We therefore welcome you without pretending that politics has disappeared. It has not. But we also welcome you without the hostility that has characterized some of your previous visits.
That should tell you something about this county.
Siaya Is Watching the Projects — But It Is Also Watching the Politics
Your administration has put significant public resources into Siaya.
In June 2025, you announced a Sh1 billion investment in blue-economy infrastructure, including the Usenge Pier and associated facilities, while also outlining plans for markets and expanded electricity connections.
The Dhogoye Causeway Bridge, whose construction has faced years of delays, has been revived with an estimated Sh1.9 billion investment and is intended to connect Usenge with Got Agulu while opening up economic opportunities around the lake.
The national government has also committed itself to major investments in Siaya’s health and sports infrastructure. The Siaya Level 5 hospital expansion is designed to add substantial capacity, while the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Stadium is being upgraded towards a 20,000-seat facility.
These are not small interventions.
And therefore, Mr President, our first request is simple:
Finish what you have started.
Siaya residents do not need another catalogue of promises. They need functioning bridges, completed hospitals, usable stadiums, operational markets, reliable water systems, roads that can actually be used and infrastructure that creates economic activity long after the presidential motorcade has left.
Development should not be measured by the number of times a project appears in a presidential itinerary.
It should be measured by whether it works.
The Boda Boda Conversation May Be More Important Than the Rally
Your decision to engage boda boda operators during this visit deserves particular attention.
This is potentially more important than the size of any rally.
The boda boda rider is not a political theoretician. He is an economic actor.
He knows the price of fuel. He knows the condition of the roads. He knows whether police harassment has increased or decreased. He knows whether business is improving. He knows whether his children are in school. He knows whether a government programme actually reached him.
Most importantly, he votes.
So when you sit with boda boda operators, you will be speaking to people whose understanding of government is based less on political speeches and more on their daily struggle to survive.
Listen carefully.
Do not allow politicians on either side to translate their frustrations for you.
Let them speak for themselves.
That is one reason the emerging political atmosphere in Siaya deserves your attention.
Three Forces Are Changing the Conversation
The warmth you encounter on the ground cannot responsibly be attributed to one politician or one political party.
But three developments deserve consideration.
First is the increasingly visible mobilisation around David Ochieng and the Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG) as he positions himself for the Siaya governorship. Ochieng is one of several prominent politicians positioning themselves for the county’s top seat.
His grassroots activity, particularly among young people, is worth watching—not necessarily because every crowd represents a fixed voting bloc, but because youth political engagement is becoming harder for established parties to take for granted.
Second is your decision to speak directly to the boda boda sector.
And third is the changing perception of Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi.
Wandayi has become one of the administration’s most prominent voices in Siaya and has openly urged residents to support your re-election bid, while simultaneously arguing that Siaya needs stronger voter numbers to improve its bargaining power nationally.
His political message is no longer merely about supporting the national government.
It is increasingly about convincing Siaya that working with the government can produce tangible dividends.
That argument deserves to be tested against results—not slogans.
Mr President, Tutam Is Becoming a Political Reality
You have previously told Siaya residents that political slogans such as Wantam and Tutam will ultimately be decided by Kenyans, and that leaders should concentrate on working for the people.
That was perhaps the more important part of the message.
Because Tutam is now becoming more than a political slogan in parts of Siaya.
It is becoming a statement of expectation.
When residents repeat it, they are not necessarily saying they have abandoned their political loyalties.
They may simply be saying:
“If you want our attention, show us what you have done.”
That is a very different proposition from asking Siaya to surrender its political identity.
And you should not ask it to.
About Governor Orengo: Leave Siaya’s Domestic Politics to Siaya
We also have something uncomfortable to tell you.
Please do not allow your relationship with Governor James Orengo to become the measure of your relationship with Siaya.
The two are not the same.
Orengo has become one of the most outspoken critics of your administration and has positioned himself prominently within the opposition’s Linda Mwananchi politics. His disagreements with your government are well documented.
But Siaya’s development cannot be held hostage to political disagreement between State House and County Hall.
Nor should national government investment be interpreted as a favour to a governor.
It is a constitutional responsibility.
Likewise, a governor’s opposition politics should not automatically become an excuse to punish citizens who did not elect the national government but remain entitled to its services.
We say this plainly because we believe it:
Siaya should not be forced to choose between Orengo and Ruto in order to receive development.
Our county government has its own responsibilities. The national government has its own responsibilities.
Let each institution do its job.
As for our Governor, allow the people of Siaya to interrogate his record at the ballot box.
We will deal with our domestic politics.
But There Is One Thing We Must Defend: Development Must Continue Beyond Political Rivalry
We acknowledge your government’s consistency on several major projects in Siaya.
The hospital and stadium programmes are examples of national-county cooperation that should survive political disagreement. The stadium upgrade is progressing under KDF supervision and is intended to transform the facility into a much larger modern sporting complex.
The same principle should apply to the wider development agenda.
The Siaya Integrated Modern Market, for example, has suffered delays and remains a reminder that announcements are easier than completion. County planning documents envisage the market serving more than 1,000 traders when fully developed, with facilities including cold rooms, sanitation, water, parking and an IT hub.
That is precisely why residents should demand completion rather than political arguments over who deserves credit.
A completed market is more valuable than a political speech about a market.
Mr President, Invest in the Siaya Mind
This is where we think your administration can think differently.
Siaya responds better to programmes that touch people’s lives directly than to infrastructure whose economic purpose is unclear.
Yes, build roads.
Yes, build bridges.
Yes, build hospitals and markets.
But also build human capital.
Siaya is a county of teachers, professionals, innovators, academics, entrepreneurs and young people who have historically been forced to leave home to find opportunities elsewhere.
Think ICT.
Think innovation.
Think technology incubation.
Think scholarships tied to future industries.
Think aviation and airlift-related training.
Think serious technical and intellectual programmes for young people.
Think of Siaya as a potential knowledge and innovation hub for the Lake Victoria region, not merely a county waiting for the next road project.
The county’s own development planning recognizes the need to address the historic disconnect between physical planning and economic performance.
That is the challenge.
Infrastructure should be the platform.
Human capital should be the product.
And Please Fix NYOTA’s Small Problems Before They Become Big Political Problems
Your NYOTA programme has created genuine opportunities for young people.
In Rarieda alone, hundreds of young people have gone through the programme, with beneficiaries moving towards technical training and receiving stipends to support their participation.
More recently, the government increased the daily training stipend for beneficiaries in hardship counties from Sh300 to Sh500, recognizing that transport and subsistence costs can determine whether young people can actually participate.
That tells us something important:
A stipend that looks small in Nairobi can be enormous to a young Kenyan in Siaya.
So when administrative or payment problems occur, please do not dismiss them as minor bureaucratic inconveniences.
To a beneficiary, a delayed payment can mean transport money.
It can mean lunch.
It can mean rent.
It can mean whether a trainer can continue showing up.
Government programmes are ultimately judged at that human level.
Fix the payment bottlenecks.
Make NYOTA predictable.
Make its beneficiaries feel that the State has not merely registered them, photographed them and disappeared.
We Also Ask You a Politically Uncomfortable Question: Where Is Siaya in the National Opportunity Structure?
This is perhaps our strongest appeal.
We do not want favour.
We want inclusion.
Siaya has young men and women capable of serving this country in the disciplined services, civil service, diplomatic corps, technology sector, academia and public administration.
The question is not whether Siaya has talent.
It does.
The question is whether national opportunity is being distributed in a manner that residents perceive as equitable.
So, Mr President, when recruitment opportunities arise, when diplomatic positions become available, when civil service openings are advertised, when national agencies recruit, when technical opportunities are created—
look towards Siaya too.
Not because Siaya is entitled to quotas.
But because equitable national development means citizens from every part of Kenya must see themselves reflected in the machinery of the Republic.
We Have Watched Your Journey — And That Is Why This Letter Is Not Cynical
There is a personal reason we write this letter.
We have watched your journey.
We remember the young man who came from a disadvantaged background and went to school at Wareng Secondary School.
We remember the ambitious university student at the University of Nairobi.
We watched the early business struggles.
We watched the chance political journey that eventually took you through YK’92 and into the centre of Kenya’s national political establishment.
We watched your first parliamentary contest against Reuben Kiplagat Chesire and remember voting for you at Uasin Gishu Primary School polling station.
We therefore do not write as people who discovered William Ruto yesterday because he became President.
We have watched the journey.
And perhaps that is why we can say this without embarrassment:
Mr President, you have Siaya’s attention.
But having someone’s attention is not the same as having their vote.
Nor should you confuse a friendly crowd with a political conversion.
Kenyan voters have become too sophisticated for that.
What you can win, however, is something much more valuable:
respect.
Respect earned through delivery.
Respect earned through fairness.
Respect earned by completing what you promised.
Respect earned by listening to citizens even when their politics differs from yours.
And respect earned by demonstrating that the national government belongs to every Kenyan—not only those who voted for it.
Our Final Request: Do Not Waste This Moment
Your visit to Siaya comes at a politically delicate moment.
The opposition is reorganizing.
The succession battle for the Siaya governorship is intensifying.
Orengo’s national ambitions have added another layer to the political equation.
Sifuna’s national profile is rising.
Wandayi is increasingly presenting himself as the face of a development-first approach in Siaya.
And several politicians are positioning themselves for the county’s top seat.
Against that background, your visit is more than another presidential tour.
It is an opportunity to demonstrate a different kind of politics.
Do not come merely to ask Siaya to change its political mind.
Come to convince Siaya that the Kenyan State works.
Complete the projects.
Open the opportunities.
Fix the small administrative failures that undermine big programmes.
Invest in the youth.
Recruit fairly.
Build institutions.
Listen to the boda boda rider.
Listen to the trader.
Listen to the student.
Listen to the nurse.
Listen even to the person who will still vote against you.
That is the test of leadership.
And if you do that, you may discover that the most powerful political message in Siaya is not Wantam, Tutam, ODM, UDA, Linda Mwananchi or any other slogan.
It is simply this:
“We have seen what government can do—and we expect it to do more.”
Mr President, you have Siaya.
Not as a political possession.
Not as an opposition prize.
Not as a county to be won through patronage.
You have Siaya as a constitutional responsibility.
Make the right moves.
Yours sincerely,
The Editorial Team
15th September, 2026
Siaya Today
