By Michelle Ndaga
Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has dismissed Monday’s high-profile meeting between President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga as a political show lacking substance.
The gathering at the KCB Leadership Centre in Karen, which brought together leaders from Kenya Kwanza and ODM, was billed as a historic step toward bipartisan cooperation, with resolutions framed around unity and accelerating national agendas.
But Omtatah argued that the meeting sidestepped the country’s most urgent problems. Writing on X, he said the resolutions were “hollow,” accusing the political class of ignoring runaway corruption, spiraling national debt, and weakened anti-graft institutions.
“What we witnessed in Karen today is yet another distraction… Endless talk shops cannot fix a broken economy or restore public trust. The real question is: what is in it for the people?” he wrote, warning that “unity at the top is meaningless if it only protects thieves.”
Omtatah insisted that the Constitution already provides the framework needed to govern effectively, urging leaders to cancel odious debts, fight graft, and focus on policies that lower the cost of living and create jobs.
While Ruto and Odinga hailed the meeting as a milestone for national stability, Omtatah’s critique underlines persistent public skepticism over whether political unity will translate into tangible relief for ordinary Kenyans.
