Political commentator Willis Otieno has taken a direct swipe at Kenya’s veteran political class, saying the country must move on from legacy politicians.
In a Monday, July 14, 2025, comment, Otieno described the veteran leaders as a drag on the country, accusing them of decades of betrayal, corruption, and rhetoric.
“Legacy politicians are the dead weight holding this country back. They’ve recycled themselves through every regime, switching parties like underwear, clinging to power with nothing to show but scandals, land grabs, and broken promises,” he said.
Otieno called for a clean break with the past, arguing that real progress will only be achieved when new, accountable leadership takes the reins.
The outspoken lawyer dismissed the notion that veteran politicians offer valuable experience, arguing instead that their so-called expertise lies in “looting, lying, and exploiting tribal divisions” to maintain power and relevance.
“They speak of experience, but it’s experience in looting, lying, and manipulating tribal divisions. They had their time. They built nothing. Now they want to block the future too. We owe them nothing ; not loyalty, not silence, not another minute,” Otieno said.
“Youth Must Reject Political Rot”
He opined that Kenya’s political rebirth cannot be founded on waiting for natural attrition or graceful retirements. Instead, he posited, it needs decisive action to break the stranglehold of a generation that has failed to deliver tangible change.
Willis urged Kenya’s youth and progressive elements to rise up and reject the political establishment, not just at the ballot, but in public debate and day-to-day activism.
“If Kenya is to rise, the era of legacy politicians must end. Not politely. Not gradually. But decisively, at the ballot, in the streets, and in the minds of a new generation that refuses to inherit rot,” he declared.
He also warned that the greatest threat to democracy isn’t always the old political elite, but the unchecked nature of power itself even when held by former liberators.
“The danger with revolutions is not just the old guard; it is that today’s liberator can become tomorrow’s tyrant. History is replete with movements that removed oppressive regimes only to replicate the same structures of domination under new names and fresh faces,” Otieno cautioned.
