Okiya Omtatah speaks on his first order of business if elected President in 2027

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has outlined his vision for Kenya should he clinch the presidency in the 2027 General Election.

Speaking during a live interview on Citizen TV’s The Explainer Show on Tuesday night, Omtatah - who has declared interest in the country’s top seat - stated that his first 100 days would focus on dismantling what he termed the "imperial presidency" and restoring constitutional order in the handling of public finances.

Citing the Swahili version of the national anthem as his source of national vision, the outspoken Senator said the implementation of the Constitution remains his core mission.

Omtatah anchored his plan on Article 225(1) of the Constitution, which he argues supports the establishment of an independent Treasury, separate from the Executive arm of government.

He promised that his primary move would be to dismantle the presidency’s grip on financial power.

"In my implementation, I have anchor chapters that, the first thing would be to destroy the imperial presidency. An imperial president is nothing but the power of the past, where he controls both money and Executive power," he said.

“You cannot have a devolved system of government, then have a National Treasury that is part of the Executive. All our problems come from the fact that money is with the President. Like (Chinua) Achebe says, the President holds both the knife and the cake.”

Criticising what he termed the politicisation of development, the lawmaker faulted the current structure where budget allocations are often tied to political allegiance.

“In my first 90 days, I would want to break that by implementing what the Constitution requires in Article 225, Clause 1, that we should have an independent Treasury,” he noted.

“You cannot have the theory of suppression of powers, which basically for me the three powers are the Judiciary, the Executive power and the money in Parliament. 

He said his administration would ensure public funds are controlled by Parliament and disbursed only through structured and lawful processes.

"Look at anywhere President William Ruto goes, we have these people coming up who are MPs who have passed a budget coming up and making many budgets whenever the President has a function, be it a burial, state function, church event…they go there and begin requesting for development," he stated.

"Now you find we are being told that because of the broad-based government, Luo Nyanza is now seeing development because the President is an emperor, he controls and owns the State. I would take the Treasury away from the Executive and have it run independently. For any money to leave, it must be approved by Parliament in a budget and the Controller of Budget must sanction the withdrawal. That way, we drain the swamp.”

Omtatah’s candidacy adds to a growing list of leaders eyeing the 2027 presidential race, as public debate over constitutionalism and economic governance intensifies.

Asked if his candidacy is absolute, he said his campaign is backed by a scientific approach, including an ongoing countrywide survey by a presidential exploratory committee that will determine whether or not he actually runs for the top seat.

“I appointed a presidential exploratory committee last year. They are going around counties and have done 31 counties—we have 16 to go,” Omtatah said.

The lawmaker, at the same time, emphasised that his decision to run is not driven by personal ambition but by a sense of duty.

“I am not running for president because I think there is a vacuum or because I want a job. I am just running because I feel there is a job to be done,” he said.

“Right now, we are facing an existential threat as a country. I’ve built a vehicle in terms of an ideological framework of what needs to be done to fix the country, and I have a document I can put on the table.”