Will Omtatah challenge Ruto? Decision due next month

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Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah will know whether he will face President William Ruto in next year’s presidential election by next month.

A team that is collecting views on the viability of Omtatah Presidential candidacy said in Eldoret that it will complete its report by the end of this month after months of data collection.

On Wednesday, the Okiya Omtatah exploratory committee held forums in President Ruto’s home county of Uasin Gishu, where a section of locals, including small traders, expressed a desire for change during a meeting in Eldoret.

Chairperson of the committee, Mary Gathomi, said a report by the team will help Omtatah, an activist-cum politician to produce a county-specific manifesto which he will use in his campaign to unseat President Ruto in next year’s polls.

“We are analysing the views that have been collected so far and we are expected to present them to our Presidential candidate before the end of June, and it will be a public document,” Gathomi said.

She said the report will determine whether Omtatah will be in the Presidential race or not.

“We are listening to Kenyans before sharing our plan on how we are going to serve them,” she said.

She added: “We have so far gathered views in 43 counties across the country. Unemployment is the biggest problem in Uasin Gishu County. Locals also claimed that drug abuse is a major issue in Eldoret, with many youths getting addicted to a new drug called jet fuel. They have also told us to fix problems in the Social Health Authority (SHA).”

Uasin Gishu residents told the committee that hustlers were the most hit by harsh economic realities and were facing harassment daily as they sell their wares in Eldoret.

Agnes Watepio, a grocer (mama mboga) in Eldoret, claimed the Kenya Kwanza administration betrayed hustlers soon after the 2022 general elections.

Watepio told the team that mama mboga and hawkers have been harassed by county enforcement officers and their wares thrown away, in exercises that have discouraged business in the last three years.

“The current administration rose to power with big support from hustlers who are suffering today under harassment and harsh rules,” the trader said.

She went on to say: “Leaders should have told us that we were being prepared to become long-distance runners. We are chased by county askaris. We were not aware that we were electing a government that would make us run every day to avoid arrests and destruction of our wares.”

Alex Onyango said education has become too expensive for struggling families during the Kenya Kwanza regime.

“The President promised us to take our children to school even without paying the full school fees, but many parents were turned away with their children. We want Omtatah to come and rescue the education sector. We want our children to get an education for a better tomorrow,” said Onyango.

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