Butere: President William Ruto’s aide Farouk Kibet has stepped up the government’s grassroots mobilization in Western Kenya, urging residents to embrace economic empowerment programmes targeting boda boda operators, women’s groups, and other small-scale traders.
According to Kenya News Agency, Kibet spoke at Marenyo Market in Butere Sub-County, Kakamega County, during a broad-based leaders’ empowerment drive that brought together senior national and county politicians. He emphasized that the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) was anchored on giving ordinary Kenyans the means to move from subsistence to sustainable livelihoods, arguing that investment in grassroots groups would strengthen families and the wider local economy.
The event attracted National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot, Senator David Wakoli, MPs Innocent Mugabe, Emmanuel Wangwe, and David Ndakwa, Kakamega County Assembly Speaker James Namatsi, MCAs, political aspirants, and other leaders. The appearance of these leaders offered a significant display of the emerging broad-based political alliance, with grassroots economic empowerment taking center stage.
Kibet reiterated that the Government’s approach was intended to ensure that ordinary citizens were not left behind in the country’s economic transformation, particularly those whose livelihoods depend on small businesses and informal enterprises. The Butere gathering also comes as political leaders intensify grassroots engagements in Western Kenya ahead of the 2027 General Election, with development, economic empowerment, and political realignment increasingly featuring in public meetings across the region.
