Why I was against march to State House - Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah protests along Kimathi Street, Nairobi on June 25, 2025. (Photo: Barack Oduor)

By Maureen Kinyanjui
Thursday, June 26, 2025

Senator Okiya Omtatah said he took deliberate steps to stop what he believed would have turned into a dangerous confrontation with security forces.

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has revealed that he was strongly opposed to the push by Gen Z protesters to march to State House during the June 25 demonstrations, warning that such a move could have led to loss of lives.

Speaking in the aftermath of the protests, Omtatah said he took deliberate steps to stop what he believed would have turned into a dangerous confrontation with security forces.

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“There was pressure for people to march to the State House. One of the reasons I was sitting down and tracking the crowd was to stop that march, because I believed people were going to be killed. And I didn’t want another life lost, when we were commemorating the death of other people,” said Omtatah.

The senator affirmed that he supports the demands for reform and accountability being raised across the country, but urged young people to focus their energy on building a peaceful movement through the Constitution and the ballot.

“Kenya should avoid an uprising. We should have a revolution. This anger must be channelled to a revolution, not to an uprising. The danger of an uprising is chaos. Organised groups can take state power - and you can see where Sudan is,” Omtatah added.

Omtatah said he believes if demonstrators had gone ahead with plans to approach State House, the outcome could have been unpredictable and tragic.

“If people are shot, and those shooting run away, power can be taken chaotically,” he said. “You don’t know what will result; we could end up jumping from the frying pan into the fire.”

The Senator urged young protesters to take the next step by getting involved in the country’s political process.

According to the senator, meaningful change will only come if the youth take part in elections and vote for leaders who reflect their values.

“We must manage this anger, this demand for good governance, cleverly. Using the Constitution, we can engineer a revolution, and that revolution will have to begin with politics,” Omtatah said

He called for a large-scale voter registration drive targeting young people to ensure they are ready to shape the country’s future at the ballot box.

“People must be registered as voters. Once they are registered, we prepare for elections and monitor each one carefully,” Omtatah noted.

The senator also pointed to the need for stronger oversight of the electoral process.

“In every ward, we should say: these are the polling stations gazetted, download the app, move around with the GPS and confirm they exist. Last time, we discovered a polling station allegedly located in a non-existent primary school. One even had just a gate, that’s it,” he added.