Education projects take centre stage as Ruto concludes development tour in Gusii Region

President William Ruto has put education at the centre of his four-day development tour of the Gusii region, which ended on Wednesday. He launched the M-PESA Foundation Nyankororo Comprehensive School, ordered 12 teachers to be posted to the new Nyangena Primary School by the end of December, commissioned the Ibeno Kenya Medical Training College after more than 15 years of delay, and broke ground on student hostels at Kisii National Polytechnic. He also announced a Sh22 billion allocation for 270 kilometres of new roads in Kisii County.

The tour took him through almost all nine constituencies in the county, including Bonchari, South Mugirango, Bobasi, Nyaribari Chache, Kitutu Chache North and Bomachoge. At each stop, the President spoke of government plans to expand access to education and health care, connect homes to electricity and open up farming areas with tarmac roads.

In Bonchari Constituency, the President launched the M-PESA Foundation Nyankororo Comprehensive School. The school was built under the M-PESA Foundation's Citizens of the Future programme and has modern classrooms, digital learning, clean water and facilities for learners with special needs. Residents of Nyankororo said the school had changed the village, with parents from across Bonchari seeking places for their children.

Ruto said partnerships between government and private foundations such as M-PESA were a way of building Kenya, with government providing teachers and policy and partners providing modern infrastructure.

He then commissioned construction of a new Nyangena Primary School in Bonchari, which he said will have 12 modern classrooms to replace old, congested and leaking structures that had forced pupils to learn under trees during the rains. He directed Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba to work with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to post 12 teachers to the school by the end of December.

"These children must not wait. When the classrooms are ready, the teachers must be ready," the President said.

Ogamba, who accompanied the President, promised to act on the directive immediately, saying the ministry was already working with TSC to address teacher shortages in Kisii County. Parents in Nyangena said that for years one teacher had been handling more than 80 pupils, and that many children dropped out for lack of individual attention.

In Nyaribari Chache Constituency, the President commissioned the Ibeno Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC). The project had stalled for more than 15 years, while parents' children travelled to Kisii Town, Nairobi and Eldoret to train as nurses and clinical officers.

Ruto said the commissioning of Ibeno KMTC, together with the Marani KMTC in Kitutu Chache North, would unlock medical training in Kisii. "When the infrastructure is ready, more courses will be taught at the college and enable the training of more professionals in the region to strengthen our universal health programme," he has said at previous KMTC launches in the county.

Leaders who inspected the project ahead of the visit, led by Governor Simba Arati, Nyaribari Chache MP Zaheer Jhanda and Nominated Senator Essy Okenyuri, assured residents that the college would be completed and opened for learning. Ibeno KMTC is expected to train nurses, clinical officers, laboratory technicians and other health workers, with practical training in nearby health centres and dispensaries.

Still in Nyaribari Chache, the President launched the construction and expansion of hostels at Kisii National Polytechnic, one of the largest technical training institutions in the Gusii region. The institution has for years had a shortage of student accommodation, forcing many students to rent costly rooms in Kisii Town or walk long distances to class.

Ruto said the hostels would give students accommodation inside the institution and are part of the government's plan to make technical and vocational training attractive to young people. He said Kenya needs electricians, plumbers, welders, builders, mechanics and ICT technicians as well as graduates.

The hostels will include modern ablution blocks, water supply, lighting and study rooms, and are expected to increase enrolment by allowing students from Nyamira, Migori, Homa Bay and beyond to join. Students and lecturers at the launch said the hostels would cut the cost of learning and reduce the security risks faced by students who live far from the institution.

In South Mugirango Constituency, the President launched the Nyakeyo-Nyamasege Road project and the upgrading of the Sengenya-Openda-Kiagware Road to bitumen standard.

In Bobasi Constituency, he launched construction of the Nyagesa-Rianyamanga Road at Kabosi, inspected the Itumbe-Motonto Road and commissioned the Motonto Modern Market. The Nyagesa-Irongo-Risamwera-Rianyamanga Road is expected to ease the movement of agricultural produce to markets, improve access to schools and health facilities, and reduce transport costs for traders.

Announcing the Sh22 billion allocation for 270 kilometres of new roads, Ruto said during the launch of the Sengenya-Openda-Kiagware Road: "The budgetary allocation of Sh22 billion to construct 270km of new roads in the county demonstrates our resolve to translate our pledges into tangible projects that transform lives."

In Kitutu Chache North, the President launched a Last Mile electricity project that will connect 180 households at Egogi, as part of a wider plan to connect 4,800 households in the constituency. In Bobasi, the government is investing Sh95 million in a Last Mile project targeting 1,600 households.

The Motonto Modern Market at Kabosi, a Sh70 million facility, is expected to accommodate more than 300 traders, with stalls, cold storage, clean water and toilets.

In Kisii County as a whole, the government launched a Sh700 million rehabilitation and expansion of the water supply network, plus Sh350 million to solarise an 80-kilometre pipeline to lower costs. The President also laid the foundation stone for the 189-unit Nyachenge Affordable Housing Project in South Mugirango.

On the last day at Kisii Farmers Training Centre, the President thanked the community for its reception and thanked elders for their support of the Broad-Based Government, asking them to remain in it. He expressed optimism that it would win and continue in government after the 2027 General Election. He told the elders that their unity had kept Kisii peaceful and focused on development, and said the government needed their counsel and votes to finish the roads, schools, markets, electricity and jobs for young people.

He said the government he leads is a government for all Kenyans, and that Kisii would continue to have a seat at the table as long as the community remained united behind development.

Leaders who accompanied the President, among them Arati, Ogamba, South Mugirango MP Silvanus Osoro and Jhanda, said the tour showed that Kisii was no longer on the periphery of national development.

Residents said they had heard promises before, noting that Ibeno KMTC waited 15 years and that many roads had been launched and then stalled. They said they would judge the tour by whether the 12 classrooms at Nyangena are built, whether the 12 teachers arrive by December, whether Ibeno KMTC admits its first students, and whether the Nyakeyo-Nyamasege and Nyagesa-Rianyamanga roads are tarmacked to the end.