Willis Otieno: The era of legacy politicians must end decisively
By Nancy Marende, July 14, 2025Lawyer and political commentator Willis Otieno has criticised the long-standing political elite, declaring that the era of legacy politicians must come to a definitive and unapologetic end.
In a statement on Monday, July 14, 2025, Otieno described legacy politicians as a “dead weight” that continues to drag the country backwards.
Further, he has accused them of surviving through decades of political betrayal, corruption, and empty promises.
“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 dismissed claims that veteran politicians bring experience to the table, arguing instead that their experience is in “looting, lying, and manipulating tribal divisions” to remain relevant and in control.
“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,” he added.
According to Otieno, Kenya’s political transformation cannot wait for natural transitions or polite retirements.
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He called on the youth and progressive voices to reject the status quo both at the ballot box and in the public discourse.
“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 said.
Further, he has stated that a true threat to democracy, lies in the unchecked nature of power itself—even in the hands of those who once claimed to be 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,” he said.