Choppers Fill the Skies Over Kisii as Ruto’s Entourage Crisscrosses Region on 3rd Day, Kenyans React

A busy fleet of helicopters has kept the skies over Kisii humming this week as politicians accompanying President William Ruto have hopped between venues on the third day of his tour of the Gusii region.

The details have emerged from photographs that Standard Digital has shared on its Facebook page, taken by photographer Sammy Omingo, which have drawn hundreds of reactions and dozens of comments within minutes of going up.

According to Standard Digital, several of the aircraft have been used by leaders who have trailed the Head of State from one stop to another.

The helicopters have touched down at different points across the county, allowing the entourage to move quickly between launches and public meetings that would otherwise have taken hours by road.

The day has been packed. Ruto has launched the Kenyoro SDA-Riana Market-Kerina Road in Bonchari, has addressed residents in Nyamira and has later commissioned the Nyagesa-Rianyamanga Road in Kabosi, where rain has cut his speech short.

Governor Simba Arati, Cabinet Secretaries Davis Chirchir and Julius Ogamba, and a number of regional MPs have kept pace with him throughout.

Kenyans have not been shy about sharing their views. Some commenters have defended the arrangement, arguing that air travel has been the only practical way to cover so many venues in a single day, particularly when the schedule has been tight and the weather has been unpredictable. .

Others have taken a sharper tone and have questioned the cost of running so many choppers at once, asking whether the money could have been better spent on the very roads and projects the leaders have come to launch.

A few online users have approached the matter with humour, joking about the traffic in the sky and wondering whether the helicopters have outnumbered the vehicles on the ground.

The mix of praise, criticism and jokes has kept the conversation lively across social media.

Neither State House nor the leaders who have used the helicopters have commented on the reactions, at least not in the material that has surfaced so far. It has also remained unclear who has paid for the flights, a question that many Kenyans have continued to raise.

The tour has not yet ended, and the entourage has been expected to keep moving across the region as the programme has continued.

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