President William Ruto on Tuesday 4th February 2025 became the first president to spend a night in the highly dreaded Mandera county which has continued to record several cases of insecurity. On Monday, five chiefs from the county who were preparing for the president’s visit were abducted by suspected Al-Shabaab terrorists therefore raising more concerns on the President’s safety during his scheduled tour to the Northeastern region.
However, in his first address to Kenyans from the region, Ruto sent a warning to those who were involved in the abduction of the chiefs and vowed to ensure that the countries security agencies win over the terrorists by all means possible.
“We will not stop at anything until we make sure that the Northern Kenya is safe like any other part of Kenya. They thought that they were doing that so that I don’t come here but I have not only come here but I will sleep here,” the angry president declared.
The high levels of insecurity in Mandera and the entire Northeastern has denied the region the opportunity to host high profile leaders, senior government administrators and receiving most development projects.
In the history, the last sitting head of state to spend a night in the region was the late former president, Daniel Moi. Mwai Kibaki during his tenure visited Mandera once in 2005 while Uhuru Kenyatta only landed in the region in 2017 during campaign season in his quest for second term.
Therefore, William Ruto’s visit which is scheduled for the larger part of this week marks a historic moment for the region as he is slated to tour Mandera, Isiolo and Garissa counties.
