In a previous life, I managed one of Kenya’s leading audio-visual radio stations. The station's morning show – which is still thriving thanks to the grace of the fickle gods of commercial radio – quickly became a magnet for the country’s political elite. From MPs, senators, governors and Cabinet secretaries to chief justices and even visiting presidents, it was a front-row seat to the inner workings of political power.
It was a prime vantage point for understanding what makes these ostensible 'servants of the people' tick. Take, for instance, the Permanent Secretary who arrived with an impossibly large entourage, including an aide whose sole job seemed to be carrying the PS’s handbag.
Then there was the Cabinet secretary, so disorganised and unpredictable that his own team never knew if he would show up for an interview meant to communicate an important policy position. Or the presidential candidate whose own team—speaking off-air and in strict confidence—struggled to muster a single kind word about him.
Then, of course, there was Senator Okiya Omtatah. Among the leaders I personally encountered, I could count on one hand those who wore their power lightly and were genuinely invested in serving Kenyans rather than engaging in relentless self-promotion. The good senator from Busia led this small but admirable group.
It's not just that he has demonstrated the transformative potential of the 2010 Constitution through filing countless lawsuits as a public interest litigator, or that he avoids the typical fuel-guzzling vehicles favoured by many lawmakers. What sets Omtatah apart is that he possesses that rarest of qualities in Kenyan politics: public-spiritedness.
No surprise, then, that Omtatah was the only politician permitted on stage during last Sunday’s Shujaaz Memorial Concert held in Uhuru Park. The event was attended by thousands of Kenyans and was organised to commemorate this year's Saba Saba Day as well as to offer a heartfelt farewell to those who lost their lives nationwide during protests ignited by contentious clauses in the withdrawn Finance Bill, 2024, which have now evolved into broader governance concerns.
Omtatah’s enthusiastic reception at the concert has been interpreted by many observers as a sign of his good standing in the eyes of a movement that has shown little tolerance for the current political establishment.
With 2027 shaping up to be a change election akin to 2002, largely fueled by unprecedented engagement from Kenya’s typically apathetic youth, Omtatah's allure as a presidential candidate is drawing significant interest. So much so that he has been compelled to address the matter.
His stance? A somewhat coy "I don't rule anything out.”
Of course, no single presidential candidate has all the answers to the thorny issues that currently confront our nation. It's therefore essential to move beyond our obsession with messianic presidential candidates.
If this moment has taught us anything, it's that our salvation lies in our own hands. What we should aspire to is having a president who upholds and respects the constitution as a fundamental commitment and not because he is forced to.
Omtatah, by every discernable measure, has the makings of such a candidate. Many, myself included, hope he will seize the moment when the timing is right. Predictably, cynics will dismiss Omtatah as a mere also-ran. They will say he has no chance of winning the presidency because Kenyans will revert to their ethno-nationalist default settings when the election draws close.
While this analysis may align with realpolitik because it hews close to our recent electoral history, it also betrays a profound lack of imagination and a failure to accurately read the mood of the nation.
Kenyans have decisively and definitively reached the end of their tether. We have witnessed a President being forced by the citizens to veto his own Finance Bill. The rule book of what is possible in Kenyan politics is being rewritten right before our eyes. The least we can do is free our minds to match the infinite possibilities before us.
Lawyer and media practitioner