There is something deeply troubling about watching a politician move from fighting for democratic values to defending power at almost any cost. Hassan Omar’s political journey makes that contrast difficult to ignore.
Omar was once associated with causes that gave many Kenyans hope. In the late 1990s, he emerged as a student leader at Moi University and later became the first chairman of the Kenya National Students Union.
He was part of a generation that believed young people could challenge the old political order and demand a better country.
His involvement in the political changes that led to the 2002 NARC victory further strengthened his image as someone willing to stand on the side of reform.
His later work at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights also placed him close to some of the darkest moments in Kenya’s recent history.
Following the 2007-2008 post-election violence, he was involved in efforts linked to the protection of victims and human rights.
That history makes his recent political rhetoric even more difficult to understand.
Comments attributed to Omar about taking fingerprints from dead people so that they could supposedly vote for President William Ruto in 2027 go far beyond ordinary political bravado.
Even if such remarks were intended as a joke, political strategy or provocation, they raise serious questions about the kind of politics Kenya is being offered.
Elections are not a game of tricks. They are not supposed to be about finding ways around the will of citizens.
They are about living Kenyans choosing the leaders who will govern them.
That is why talk of using the identities or fingerprints of dead people should never be treated casually. Kenya has spent decades trying to build confidence in its electoral system.
Every statement that appears to mock that process risks weakening public trust.
For someone who once presented himself as a defender of democratic reform and human rights, Omar should understand this better than most politicians.
The bigger problem is not Hassan Omar alone. His words represent a dangerous political culture in which loyalty to power can become more important than loyalty to principle.
Politicians sometimes begin their careers fighting powerful people, only to later become defenders of the same system they once criticised.
That transformation should worry Kenyans.
If President Ruto has genuine support, then his supporters should have nothing to fear from an honest election.
They should campaign, persuade voters and accept the outcome. There should be no need for language that makes the electoral process sound like a battlefield where every trick is acceptable.
Calling votes weapons, bullets or shields may make for dramatic political speeches, but Kenya needs something more serious from its leaders.
It needs respect for institutions, respect for voters and respect for the dead.
Hassan Omar once appeared to understand that politics was supposed to be about people and principles. Today, his rhetoric risks making him look like another politician who became too comfortable around power.
That would be a sad ending to a political journey that once promised much more.Omar still has an opportunity to step back and ask himself what he wants his political legacy to be.
Will he be remembered as the young reformer who fought for democratic change and human rights, or as another political operator who said whatever was necessary to remain close to power?
That choice is still his.But the longer he abandons the principles that once defined him, the harder it will be to convince Kenyans that the old Hassan Omar is still there.
