Hassan Omar's transformation from Raila die-hard to DP Ruto loyalist

Former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar’s transition from a Raila Odinga loyalist to a disciple of Deputy President William Ruto has bewildered friends and foe.

Mr Omar (pictured) describes his new friendship with Dr Ruto as a leap of pragmatism, but critics accuse him of opportunism.

For years, the former senator depicted Raila as his ideological soulmate, political mentor and revolutionary while characterising Ruto as reactionary and unfit for public office. Omar’s admiration of Raila began when the former was a law student at Moi University in the 1990s and lasted through the mid-2000s as a rights activist.

Book-quoting revolutionary

During those years, Ruto served the Moi administration as a loyalist - an administration Omar disliked. The apparent animosity between Omar, who depicted himself for years as a book-quoting revolutionary and ideologue, and Ruto lasted throughout the first tenure of the Jubilee government.

Pwani University lecturer Hassan Mwakimako describes Omar’s newfound friendship with Ruto as a survival tactic because the two politicians have no common ideological conviction.

“The realignment between Omar and the DP does not follow any ideology; it is for survival because the former senator has burnt many bridges where he thought he had his strongest support. It might not take him far because people judge him for what he is,” says Mr Mwakimako.

In 2012, Ruto accused Omar of orchestrating his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) through witness couching. Omar denied the claims.

Ruto’s case was withdrawn for lack of witness cooperation. A journalist and lawyer accused of tampering with witnesses to withdraw from the Ruto ICC case have not been surrendered to the ICC.

In 2015, Omar halted his attacks on Jubilee and turned his guns on Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho.

He also began to move away from Raila and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, then lost the 2017 polls.

In the electoral campaigns for the governor’s seat, Omar was unrecognisable to former admirers and he took the earliest opportunity to defect to the Ruto wing of Jubilee in late 2017.

His rationalisation for turning to Ruto was that “when I lost the election the first person to call me was William Samoei Ruto.” 

Today, Omar blames Raila for his embrace of Ruto and believes Ruto is the most popular politician in Coast and will win the 2022 presidential race. He claims Uhuru wants to cling to power.

Although Raila has been in the opposition for a decade with Ruto and Uhuru in power since 2013, Omar says he ditched Raila because the Coast has gained nothing from the ODM leader. 

“Raila’s 15 years firm grip on the Coast politics has not yielded any benefits to the residents and that is why the region should now turn to a new political ally,” he says. 

“President Kenyatta is bidding time for a third term and ensure that Ruto does not succeed him. He is reinventing himself to become prime minister. We won’t agree.”

Ruto’s claims that Omar had fixed him gained credence after the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said it housed two ICC prosecution witnesses at a time Omar was its vice-chairman.

Omar said the claims were outrageous, noting the witnesses, William Rono and Ken Wekesa, approached KNCHR in January 2011 on their own volition to seek shelter.

Now Omar says he was vindicated at the ICC after evidence revealed that some Party of National Unity (PNU) officials fixed Ruto.

“I never fixed Ruto. It was an allegation that was concocted by PNU activists. The DP’s legal team got the evidence and discovered that the allegations were false,” he said.

Analysts of Omar’s modus operandi in Mombasa say his on and off relationship with national politicians over alleged ideological difference dates back to the 2013 polls.

In the run-up to the 2013 polls, Omar defected from ODM accusing Joho of plotting to rig him out in the party primaries. The ODM ticket for the Mombasa senatorial seat was dished out to Ramadhan Kajembe, who was then the county branch chairman.

Omar won the seat on the Wiper party with 130,605 votes against Najib Balala, who got 65,804 on a Republican Congress Party ticket. Kajembe of ODM got 52,773 votes.

Meanwhile, other analysts believe the real reason Omar is estranged from Raila is Joho, with whom they have had differences since 2004 by-election in Kisauni, in which both participated and lost to Anania Mwaboza.

Omar, according to some critics, has never accepted the fact that Joho, who he considers less-educated, has outsmarted and defeated him in many battles and shined better at the national level.

After the 2013 polls, Omar and Joho enjoyed a truce that raptured for unknown reasons in 2015. In part, the rapture was motivated by the senator’s declared intention to join the gubernatorial race in 2017. 

Other theories suggest the two Hassans were separated by rival political interests fuelled by rival tycoons behind Coast politics.

It is also alleged that he believed Raila preferred Joho to him. It is a view of some analysts that the former senator also resented Kalonzo for not supporting his gubernatorial bid.

Soon there were reports that all along Omar had been a Jubilee mole within the opposition. Omar claims Raila orchestrated this rumour. 

A charismatic civil rights crusader with powerful oratory skills, Omar now says he should not be criticised for embracing Ruto after Raila and Uhuru reconciled.

“In politics, players may call each other names and later reconcile. Look at the handshake between President Kenyatta and Raila,” says Omar, who now claims Uhuru does not wish for Ruto to succeed him. He says the Coast should support Ruto’s bid because it has no viable candidate. 

Omar believes Ruto understands the needs of counties with minorities like Coast, Rift Valley and across Kenya, and will uplift the living standards of the Coast people.

“Omar never shies away from what he believes in regardless of what the public says,” said Caleb Ng’wena, a human rights activist and consultant in Mombasa.

Mr Ng’wena says Omar is criticised harshly for associating with Ruto because he once, passionately, defended Raila and Kalonzo.

“The senator (former) has the right to change his mind. Why are people not criticising Raila for supporting Uhuru whom he fiercely fought in the last two General Elections,” argues Ng’wena who revealed that Omar was his mentor in civil society movement and friend. 

According to Mwakimako, Omar is trying to ride on the recent clamour for coastal unity which he noted was grassroots-based and could not give the former senator clout.

“It appears the strategy is to bring Omar to the limelight but it will be short-lived since his main challenge is how to endear himself to the masses in Mombasa or Coast,” says Prof Mwakimako.

It is instructive to note that Prof Mwakimako contested on a United Democratic Forum Party for the Mombasa senatorial seat in 2013 elections and lost to Omar.