You know extra ordinary times call for extra ordinary actions. I left government because I wanted to lead Kenya’s third and final liberation. While in government I toured different parts of the country, inspecting projects – government projects, but people told me everywhere I went that we were not in good times. People felt that they had been left on their own and whatever initiatives the government was undertaking were not for the good of the common Kenyan. They complained about lack of money in the pocket and a struggle to put food on the table. And in their well-considered opinion, all this was the sum total of bad governance. They felt that leaders in government had left them on their own and perhaps it was now the time that we had a paradigm shift by having at the helm a technocrat manager as the CEO of this country as opposed to legacy politicians.
In their view, legacy politicians have since time immemorial given all sorts of promises during campaigns but once in government, they forget about the people and think about themselves. So this is why I opted to align with the aspirations of the people. I left government informed by suggestions of the people that they feel I have got a good track record in terms of good governance, in terms of performance and I could therefore be the CEO of this country as President. So, I left to organise myself with a view to leading Kenya’s third and final liberation, which in my view entails economic emancipation. Our first liberation was independence, the transition from the colonial rule. The second liberation was the transformation from single-party dictatorship to multi-party democracy. The third and final remaining liberation we need now has to be economic. And that’s why I have stepped forward as an agent of necessity and change, to lead this initiative.
What drives me is the desire to sort out the challenges facing the common Kenyan. I believe that we are in a historic moment to change the paradigm by bringing on board transformational leaders, who are aligned to the real challenges facing the common people. And I believe I am equal to the task – based on my experience, skills, competencies and capabilities – to be the President of the Republic of Kenya.
The economy is not doing well! You can do everything but so long as people are struggling to put food on the table, in my view it is zero-sum game. Those are the basic inalienable rights that every government needs to respond to – the challenges facing the common Kenyan and we have not done well on that score. We must come up with solutions to the challenges facing our people Now. This is not the time to be thinking about 2060 – which is far-fetched: why would you think about 2060 yet there are problems and challenges we need to fix today?
That claim is incorrect and illogical. When I decided to work with President Ruto in 2019, I came out openly and said that I was going to work with him. When he was elected President, he appointed me to Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of ICT and later to Deputy Chief of Staff in the Executive Office of the President-another Cabinet level position. Why then should I leave government to go and work with him from the shadows?
If I wanted to work with him moving forward,I would have remained in government, we work together until 2027, then we go for the elections together – I campaign for him the way I did in the last election. If he wins we continue in government together, if he loses we go home together. That’s the most logical thing to do.
I’m not the type of person who will play certain cards under the table.
And believe me, times are gone when I used to work for other politicians. It is now my time to work for Kenyans. You know people are used to an Owalo who works for other Presidential candidates. I was the head of Raila Odinga presidential campaign in 2013, I had a stint in ANC where I worked closely with Musalia Mudavadi, then I worked with Ruto. In all these political initiatives, I have been a strategist and a key cog around those political formations. So, people are used to an Owalo who advises others, who is a strategist to others. That era is gone- I now want to be a strategist for Kenyans. I have outgrown working for individuals.
I am ready to work with other transformational leaders, but at the right time. You know people are looking at the political formations that are currently in existence. The political formations you see today, are not the formations Kenyans will go with for the 2027 elections. And I’ve got enough experience in Presidential campaigns to know this. There are so many people in government who will leave to join the opposition, and there so many people in opposition who will leave to join government. Real coalitions for purposes of elections are usually constituted about six months to the general elections. So, it is too early.
You have to understand where I’m coming from, because I’ve worked with all these politicians who are aspiring to be President of Kenya today, and I know them in and out. And I can tell without fear of contradiction that there is no real change that some of these presidential candidates can bring to Kenya. None! Absolutely none!
We have seen coalitions before, built around tribes, ethnic enclaves – tribal hero-worshipping. I believe Kenyans have outgrown that today. Talk to the mwananchi and they will tell you they do not care about tribes. But that is what our leaders have been doing at every election cycle. They put together tribes against each other – bring your community, I bring my own community – we cobble together a coalition based on ethnic numbers so that we win elections. Then once we get into government, we share power among ourselves, and we forget about the people. Kenyans have moved on, and those who are still living in the past thinking that they can cobble together tribes for purposes of winning elections irrespective of the wishes and aspirations of the people are living on borrowed time.
Given the opportunity I would wish to work with a new set of leaders – transformational leaders who are really aligned to the challenges facing the people and who aspire for real change for the good of Kenyans.
I have been asked this question often because many are still stuck to the politics of tribes; and I tell them my strongholds are farmers, who cannot exploit their potential because they do not have the requisite farm inputs; my stronghold is the fisherfolk who get fish from our waters – the lake and the oceans, but irrespective of the fact that they are primary producers, they are not the one ones who reap the benefits of the fish. You find exploitative agents buying the fish at throw-away price because of perishability.
Meanwhile, those who process the fish and export it then reap the profits, leaving the fisherfolk in poverty. I want to work with the youth of this country, who have great potential but lack the jobs plus an enabling environment to exploit their full potential. I also want to work with our mothers and sisters who are involved in itinerary trade but lack access to finances to do their businesses. I want to work with civil servants whose pay slips have been eroded courtesy of punitive taxation. Those are my strongholds and the people I want to align with, whose wishes and aspirations I want to pursue, based on a tangible transformational development agenda.
(i) Reducing Taxation, Debt-crisis and Corruption
We have to sort out the punitive taxation regime. Kenyans are today suffering, because in my view, we have levied taxes beyond their reach. I have done my mathematics and looked at the statistics as an economist. When elected president, my administration will immediately bring down the level of Income Tax from the current 35 percent to 20 percent; in the same vein we will bring down the level of VAT (value added tax) from 16 percent to 10 percent; we will also bring down the level of corporate tax by 5 percent across the board; and we will do away with Digital Tax completely – because in my view, the digital space is where we have enormous opportunities for our youth to exploit their full potential courtesy of digital jobs and the creative economy:
Next,we sort out public debt. Debt should not be utilised as a revenue-raising measure to seal budgetary-gaps. We need to run a zero-Budget deficit buy cutting our cloth according to our size. And it is possible. We simply need to expand the tax bracket by bringing in more people around the value-chains into the income bracket- then we will be able to widen the tax bracket, collect more revenue but seal the current revenue leakages. We will then have adequate domestically-generated revenue to settle the existing public debt and even have surplus to finance both development and recurrent expenditure. But before then, we must undertake a forensic audit of Kenya’s public debt to determine the veracity or otherwise as to whether the debt was meant for public good. And if certain individuals are found culpable, haul them to court plus also seize their assets and revert the assets to the Kenyan public.
Third is to deal with corruption. Corruption is the biggest contributor towards the suffering of Kenyans. People in government steal from public coffers. We need to go back to factory settings and open up all previous cases of corruption within the period of the current 2010 constitutional dispensation. Why I’m I saying that we need to reopen these cases of corruption? Because we have had cases of mega corruption but nobody has been held culpable, because of interference with our judicial processes. We need to have impartial investigations into cases of mega corruption, so that Kenyans can get to know who has stolen what and what have they utilised it for. Those fellows need to face the full force of the law.
ii) Digitalisation of Government Services
The other issue that I will really need to pursue is digitalisation of all government services. Let us digitalise everything in government – starting with procurement, roll-out of government projects, and government expenditure. We need to have accountability for each and every cent courtesy of digitalisation. I am passionate about this because I tried it when I was in government and I have seen it working. When I was appointed CS ICT, only a meagre 350 government services were digitalised. Within a period of one year under my leadership, we managed to push the number of government services on virtual platforms to 22, 000. What was the net effect? The net effect was that government revenue went up from a mere Ksh60 million every day to about Ksh.1 billion every day. So what happened? The people in government were the same, the sources of revenue remained largely the same. We just sealed revenue leakages courtesy of digitalisation. So, that is one thing we must do. We must digitalise everything to seal loopholes for revenue leakages. People like manual processes because it gives them opportunity to steal from public coffers and we must stop that.
iii) Re-engineering education and health sectors
Once we have sorted our tax and we have sorted debt and corruption, we have to re-engineer our educational sector. I believe we have adequate resources to finance free primary education and also free day secondary education. It has been done before, so you can’t tell me it is not doable – it is doable! The next thing we also need to do is to re-engineer the health sector which is in shambles. The systems are not working. In an Owalo-led government, we should be able to have free health services in all public health hospitals. When we were young we used to go to hospital, get treated and walk back home without anybody asking us for a single cent. So, where did the money go? It is just courtesy of bad governance, so I believe we can have free health services in all public health hospitals.
I have constituted a team of health experts to analyse our current situation, see what is happening in other best-case jurisdictions and come up with feasible proposals on what we need to do in the health sector once we get into government. I have done the same thing for the educational sector. I’ve set up a team already, educational experts, to look into the challenges we are facing, bench-mark with best case practices and see what we need to do to completely sort out the mess in the education sector.
iv) Creating opportunities for youth
The other area where I’m very passionate about is creating opportunities for our youth. And I believe the space is the digital and creative economy. One, we need to train our youth on digital skills, then facilitate them to pursue digital jobs. Today the world has become one global economy courtesy of digitalisation. There is no point of always bringing youth to the town centres-rural-urban migration in search of non-existent white-collar jobs.
We can have these boys and girls working for different companies all over the world and doing multiple jobs a day – working for one company in the morning, a different company in the afternoon, a completely different company in the evening, and even doing their own business in the evening in the digital space and the creative economy.
We should train our youth to be entrepreneurs as opposed to job-seekers.And it is possible within the digital and creative economy space. Then the next axis is sports. This again is another area where we have lots of opportunities for our youth. But we must start building the structures from the bottom. You cannot build sports from the top. You cannot promote sports from the top. So, we need an enabling policy framework to facilitate optimal exploitation of the potential that we have within the sports regime. We need to set up structures, we need to set up academies which we can use to train our youth from a tender age; nurture their talent and then we can export that talent. Today, sports is big business! It is not leisure as it used to be before. Sports is big money, and I verily believe we should focus on the strengths, skills and competencies of our youth. It is not like somebody has to go to school up to university to get employment, no! If somebody is a good footballer,let that person pursue football. If somebody has got skills in netball or athletics for that matter, let that person be facilitated to pursue their full potential within the space of the sports regime. That’s an area which I am also very passionate about,and will pursue to a logical conclusion.
v) Facilitating Equitable Distribution of Resources
And then, facilitating equity and equitability in distribution of resources. Today, we have a rise in economic growth, but that does translate into a rise in the standards of living of the people. Because of inequitable distribution of wealth, Kenya’s wealth is today in the hands of a very few people, about 125 people. So, we are growing a country of a few trillionaires and over 50 million beggars. Because the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people. We need that wealth dispersed to the grassroots where the masses are – to the Jua Kali sector, to the youth, SME’s, that’s where we should direct resources. Where our mothers and sisters are involved in itinerary trade, that’s where we should direct resources through the budgetary process. There is no point of pushing money into big, infrastructure projects, which only the ruling elite use to siphon money from public coffers.
When we do that there will be a rise in the levels of disposable income, and that will translate into a rise in the standard of living for the Kenyan people.
vi) Fostering the Rule of Law
Then finally, fostering the rule of law, based on the dictates of our 2010 constitutional dispensation. The rule of law states that everybody is equal before the law and I would wish to run a government that is anchored on the constitution, because our constitution is supreme. We do not want to have two sets of laws – where the ruling elite have got one set of laws and then the ordinary Kenyan has a different set of laws. We want to run a government that is impartial, where the law is applied to everybody indiscriminately. That will be a fundamental anchorage of my government if elected president.
You know in 2013, I headed the Raila Odinga presidential campaign. Raila was the candidate of the then CORD Coalition; Wetangula (Moses) was a co-principal in that coalition; Kalonzo Musyoka was a co-principal too in that coalition. Subsequent to that I ran for MP for Kibra in by-election in 2019. I was told that, I could not go to Kibra because that is somebody’s bedroom, and I said it was bedroom for all Kenyans! There is no part of the country that is an enclave to anybody. Subsequently, I was an integral cog in the Ruto 2022 presidential campaign, all the way from 2019 to 2022. So, I have enough existential experience in presidential campaigns which I believe will stand me in good stead. So far we have have unveiled our party – the People’s Prosperity Party (PPP) – which is aligned to our third liberation agenda – to facilitate prosperity for all Kenyans. We have set up structures,established and operationalized Party Offices in 30 Counties, constituted Party Officials in all the 47 Counties,and currently cascading the same to the lowest levels. We want to build and sustain a truly national and issue-oriented political party. And now we are heading to the next level of embarking on our presidential campaigns by engaging kenyans at the grassroots.
Over the years, our politics has revolved around individuals as opposed to issues. We need to transition from politics built around individuals, to politics built around issues. And this requires the collective effort of all of us, starting with the leaders and then the Kenyan masses. Kenyans should learn to elect leaders based on their track record and the agenda they have moving forward. Not on the basis of who is from my community, or who is from my church,and worst of all how much money the candidate has. That is where we go wrong!
You know, I have been involved in two presidential campaigns and people have been bandying around figures – five (5) billion shillings to 10 billion shillings: I have never seen those monies in the campaigns I have been involved. In my view, campaigns should be facilitated by money for purposes of logistics, not purposes of bribing people. That’s where we go wrong! If you are a good leader, why do you need money to bribe people? So, personally I will not be going out to look for resources from individuals – tenderpreneurs who will hold me captive when I am elected President and they start looking for tenders in government. We transition from one government to another, but we end up with the same tenderpreneurs in government. You change the forest but retain the same monkeys. That is the biggest elephant in the room.
So, personally I would look for resources to facilitate campaigns – money for logistics; and I would look for support from Kenyans. If I’m going to do a rally in Murang’a for example, and somebody tells me – look Eliud, don’t look for a pick-up, I have a pick-up here that will go round advertising the rally – that’s good enough. I have got a loud speaker, I have got a stage – those type of things: that is the type of support I need from Kenyans. But I don’t think we need colossal sums of money to run a Presidential campaign because we will end up utilising money to bribe people, and that is why we can’t have proper change. Hence we end up electing wrong leaders. We must change our mindset and culture as kenyans. Let’s not elect leaders on the basis of how much money they have, because in any case it is your money as an ordinary citizen – because you pay tax,yet they have stolen it. So, when you see people with colossal sums of money, carrying money in sacks and distributing it around, ask them where this money is coming from.
The biggest lesson is dishonesty in politics that causes a leadership deficit! Politicians are very dishonest and that is why Kenyans are suffering today. They don’t live up to their promises. They get elected and then they forget about the people. I am somebody who can be trusted. When I was in the private sector, I cut a niche in consultancy as one of the most sought-after strategists in Africa. As CS for ICT, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), undertook investigations on all government ministries and came up to the conclusion that the ministry of ICT under my leadership was the least corrupt ministry, fostering Zero-tolerance to corruption. So, my track record is there for everybody to see. That is why I’m appealing to Kenyans to give me the chance and elect me as the CEO of this country.
I attended a local primary school, where I did my CPE (Certificate of Primary Education) at Oboch Primary School. I qualified for O-levels at Maseno School after attaining three(3) straight A’s of 36 points as was the norm then-there was no short cut.Maseno was then the only school-others were secondary schools and high schools. It was no mean feat joining Maseno School at that point in time. From there I joined St. Mary’s Yala for A=levels; then on to Kenyatta University for my undergraduate course in business and economics. Thereafter, I did my Masters at the University of Nairobi, and subsequently my PHD programme in strategic management at the University of Nairobi, where today I’m a doctoral student, at the tail end of my PHD programme.
I came to Nairobi as a youth after high school. It was good experience but challenging. It was my first time in Nairobi and I didn’t have a relative to stay with, and I didn’t want to be a bother to anybody. So, I opted to move to Kibra and learnt a lot of lessons during that stint. Challenges of insecurity, sanitation, lack of clean water, and a struggle to get food; and that made me hone the skills of endurance which I have characterised my life to date. I can withstand difficult situations. But it has also made me very decisive. Once I make up mind to do something, I go the full hog.
I am appealing to Kenyans to elect me the President of the Republic of Kenya in 2027. I am an agent of real change and I believe I am the right person who can lead Kenya’s third and final liberation, which in my view, this time round, should be economic.
I want to pursue a Fresh Term for Kenyans, anchored on transformational leadership for the good of the Kenyan people.