Cotu secretary seneral Francis Atwoli is now the exclusive owner of the phrase 'alaa alaa alaa'.
The Kenya Industrial Property Institute has approved a 2021 trademark application for the now popular phrase.
This now means Atwoli owns the intellectual rights to the phrase till July 1, 2031.
Confirming the new development, Atwoli's personal assistant Adams Barasa told Saturday Nation that the use of the phrase either as a soundbite or in adverts will henceforth require his boss' permission.
"Any advert can't use the word 'alaa!' unless they get his permission," Barasa said.
Failure to this, Barasa said any unapproved use of the phrase will result in breach of the trademark.
The slogan originated during an interview on JKLive when Atwoli was talking about the 2022 general elections.
"I told you Jeff (Koinange), I don't know who is going to be the President, but I know who is not going to be the President.
"Alaa, Alaa, Alaa!" Atwoli intoned loudly when Jeff repeated the statement for emphasis.
In October 2021, three months after he applied for the intellectual rights to the phrase, Atwoli said his lawyers came up with the idea.
"It is my lawyers who said I should have a trademark for it. Everything has a trademark and lawyers from our offices thought it was unique to me and it was a unique thing that you prompted me to come up with," he told Jeff.
In the approved application, Atwoli had pointed out that the slogan is publicly attributed to him and has no English translation.
"Alaa has no English translation. It is more of a slogan, chant or an exclamation specific and attributed publicly to myself," he said.
