NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 14 \u2013 Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has raised alarm over a resurgence of politically sponsored violence, warning that Kenya risks a return to intimidation tactics as the country heads toward the 2027 General Election.<\/p>\n
Omtatah revisited his near-fatal attack on in 2012, when he was assaulted in Nairobi after opposing the procurement of Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).<\/p>\n
\u201cMany Kenyans still remember the night\u2026 when I was brutally attacked and left for dead, simply for daring to oppose the illegal procurement of BVR kits,\u201d he said.
\u201cThat attack was an assault on accountability itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Omtatah cautioned that similar patterns are re-emerging as the country approaches the 2027 General Election, alleging that politicians are once again sponsoring violence to stifle dissent.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we are witnessing a dangerous resurgence of organized goonism, funded and directed by leaders who fear genuine ideas and open debate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cViolence has always been the last refuge of those who have already lost the argument.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senator condemned the use of hired youths to intimidate critics, warning that the trend poses both a security threat and a constitutional violation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we approach the 2027 General Election, hired goons are once again being deployed to intimidate voices of reason and courage. I condemn these acts of political violence without reservation,\u201d Omtatah said.<\/p>\n
He called on law enforcement agencies, including the National Police Service Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, to act decisively.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NPSC and DCI should enforce the law without fear or favour\u2026 and, more importantly, relentlessly target the powerful sponsors and financiers of this chaos,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Omtatah further warned political actors that accountability would catch up with perpetrators.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe political class should take notice that the people are watching, and the long arm of the law will eventually catch up with those who sponsor violence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He urged Kenyans to safeguard democracy ahead of the next election cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe owe it to Kenya to ensure that the 2027 elections are decided by the sovereign will of the people at the ballot, not by the tyranny of the streets,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 14 \u2013 Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has raised alarm over a resurgence of politically sponsored violence, warning that Kenya risks a return to intimidation tactics as the country heads toward the 2027 General Election. Omtatah revisited his near-fatal attack on in 2012, when he was assaulted in Nairobi after opposing the procurement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}