UDA party interim Secretary General Hassan Omar (left) and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Mt Kenya elders want President William Ruto to reign in on United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party Secretary-General Hassan Omar, accusing him of constantly attacking Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
In two weeks Mr Omar has released two hard-hitting statements telling off Mr Gachagua, statements that have infuriated former long-serving provincial administrator Mr Joseph Kaguthi, Kikuyu Council of Elders chairman Mr Wachira Kiago, Gema chairman Lawi Imathiu and Kiama Kiama national patron Mr Kung'u Muigai.
About Mr Gachagua loyalists’ complaints that the president was meeting some Mt Kenya leaders in his absence, Mr Omar told the deputy president he was not the region’s gatekeeper and accused him of attempting to found a narrative about a co-presidency.”
On Sunday Mr Omar was at it again, describing Mr Gachagua as "abrasively territorial and very lacking in reconciliatory demeanor of politics and who does not embrace others.”
However, the elders have called out Mr Omar. They accused him of recurringly antagonising Mt Kenya, citing his role in campaigns against Mr Uhuru Kenyatta succeeding President Mwai Kibaki in 2013.
I rarely like getting mired in such conflict but this man Omar has pricked my patience. There are certain things a junior person should not say about a Deputy President. Respect and decorum refuse," said Mr Joseph Kaguthi.
Mr Kaguthi, who was a long-serving administrator, said "In the recent past, Mr Omar has sought to address Mr Gachagua in a very casual manner making us wonder where he is drawing such guts.”
Reached for comment, Mr Omar responded: "I will need to re-read. I could be wrong in my interpretation.”
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He said he has always talked in good faith and mostly his utterances had been twisted to portray vendetta. "I do not feel like commenting any further," added the former Mombasa senator.
'Usual vocal critic'
Mr Kiago on Sunday told Nation.africa that "Mr Omar has been very effective in uniting the Mt Kenya people wherever they are since 2013 through his utterances".
He recalled a 2013 incident after Mt Kenya elders convened the Limuru II conference and endorsed Mr Kenyatta to vie for the presidency.
"But Mr Omar acting for others opposed to Mt Kenya's right to choose its leader convened their own Limuru II (b) and issued a public statement that warned the region that its time to rule the country was over after Mwai Kibaki’s two terms (2002-2013)," Mr Kiago said.
"We came to tell you Mt Kenya (GEMA) will never rule again. It was a hurrah moment since the utterances united the region to a man and voted for Mr Kenyatta to emerge the fourth president."
Mr Imathiu told Nation.africa that "We are hearing him one more time revisiting his line of thought where he has become very vocal in demeaning, belittling and besmirching the deputy president in a manner very obvious he is not acting alone".
"We want the president to ensure those mandated to help him advance his political interests exercise civility and only utter that which unites. Mr Omar is becoming too much acrimonious by disrespecting Gachagua."
On his part, Mr Muigai said, "Omar's utterances are a declaration of verbal war against our set order as a region...he is such an accomplished anti-Mt Kenya people".
He said since Mr Omar replaced Cleophas Malala in UDA's August 2 boardroom coup, he has taken to the rooftops to just be a nuisance in Mt Kenya region.
Mr Malala was removed from his position during a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting presided over by the party’s national chairperson, Ms Cecil Mbarire.
Besides acting as Secretary-General, Mr Omar also serves as UDA Vice Chairperson.
Mr Malala had been accused by some members of pushing an agenda not supported by the party bigwigs.
Most controversial was his admission that some bigwigs had hatched a plot to impeach Mr Gachagua and once he opposed it led to his dethronement.
Mr Gachagua was to later complain that the UDA party had gone rogue and behaved in a manner that was not befitting of a ruling party.
"I am the deputy party leader and I was not briefed on the decision to depose Mr Malala. I was to attend the meeting but after the schemers assembled at 5am, by 6pm they had effected the coup," Mr Gachagua declared.
Mr Omar briefly trained with the Kenya Airforce but left to pursue a law degree at Moi University.
While at the university, Hassan emerged as a radical student leader and was expelled after leading a strike demanding that the university drop the name of Daniel Arap Moi, who was accused of being a dictator and an academic dwarf.
However, in 2003, after President Kibaki’s election, Omar was allowed to return to complete his studies following the nullification of his politically motivated expulsion. He graduated in 1995 with a law degree.
After completing his education, Omar was appointed to the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC), where he served until 2012 when he resigned to enter politics.
Omar was elected Mombasa Senator on a Wiper ticket in 2013 to later become the party’s Secretary General. In 2017, he sought to unseat Mombasa Governor Hassan Ali Joho but emerged a distant third.
However, he resigned from the Wiper party and has since switched loyalties to President Ruto UDA.
