“Why are they referring to you as Vera Sidika?” Jeff Koinange asked with the grin of a man who already knew the answer would set the studio on fire.
The year was November 2017, and the guest was Hassan Omar Hassan.
Beside him sat fiery Narok politician Ledama Ole Kina.
And suddenly, one of Kenya’s sharpest political swordsmen was being dragged into a national conversation about… his backside.
“It has become an issue with ODM,” Omar fired back, visibly irritated but still theatrical enough to keep the audience hooked.
“There are some women who spoke about my butt in a rally. When I tell you there is no issue-based politics in this platform called NASA (National Super Alliance) …” he said, before landing another punchline.
“And I can tell you, Musalia Mudavadi was laughing like a 15-year-old.”
Then came the wounded indignation.
“You know there are certain things… in terms of basic political decency… when they are said, you have to show disgust.”
“…They try to dehumanise you. They try to humiliate you simply because you have an opinion different from theirs.”
The irony, eight years later, is impossible to ignore.
Because Hassan Omar, who used to be mad about being called “Vera Sidika” in Kenya’s political circus, has now become one of the fieriest politicians in the country.
This follows his recent comments against former President Uhuru Kenyatta and comments that many people took as hostile toward the Mt Kenya community, which caused outrage across Central Kenya.
In Kenya, politics is a wheel. Sometimes you are the man demanding civility. Sometimes you are the man everyone demands an apology from.
And few politicians embody that wheel quite like Hassan Omar Hassan.
In Kenyan politics, most leaders speak cautiously, like men carrying tea cups across a slippery floor.
Hassan Omar speaks like he is hurling spears from a moving Land Cruiser.
Verbal Street Fighter
For nearly two decades, he has cut through Kenya’s public life as a lawyer, human rights activist, senator, constitutional purist, party strategist and verbal street fighter.
He is one of those rare politicians who can quote constitutional clauses while sounding like he is preparing for a street brawl.
At Moi University, where he studied law, he built his reputation as a fierce debater and student leader.
Hassan Omar: We have gotten to that point in our lives where we must say enough is enough. Mnaharibu nchi throughout. What has Ruto done to you that is so bad? If you sincerely feel he is incapable of leadership, why don’t you wait for 2027 and exercise your Constitutional right. pic.twitter.com/RY1TZLCnmb
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) May 19, 2026
He was at one time expelled, and word has it he survived in Nairobi by handouts offered by one of the Kenyattas’ rich scions before he found his way back to university to complete his law degree.
His entry into the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights cemented his image as a combative reformist.
At KNCHR, he fought police brutality, state excesses and constitutional impunity with the zeal of a man permanently allergic to silence.
The Hague Controversy
Yet even at that time, controversy surrounded him, as allies of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto accused him of being instrumental in their incrimination at the ICC in The Hague.
Then came 2013.
When devolution birthed the Senate, Hassan Omar became Mombasa’s first senator under Wiper and the CORD coalition.
He arrived in Parliament with lawyerly swagger and quickly transformed into one of the Senate’s most quotable figures, articulate, dramatic, impatient and gloriously combative.
He subsequently contested the Mombasa governorship under the Wiper Democratic Movement in 2017, ultimately finishing in third place behind Hassan Joho of ODM and Suleiman Shahbal from the Jubilee Party.
In 2022, he came close to becoming governor.
Running on a UDA ticket against ODM’s Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir, Omar mounted a surprisingly formidable campaign in a county long viewed as ODM territory.
Nassir eventually won with 119,083 votes against Omar’s 98,105 votes.
But beneath those numbers lay a deeper political story.
Large sections of the GEMA business community in Mombasa heavily rallied behind Omar, seeing him as formidable and capable of imposing administrative order on the chaotic port city.
Apologised
The UDA secretary general’s recent remarks against Uhuru Kenyatta and comments interpreted as anti-Mt Kenya ignited fury across the mountain.
Leaders accused him of ethnic hostility and reckless rhetoric. Eventually, Omar was forced into the rarest thing in his political career: retreat.
He apologised publicly, insisting his comments had been misunderstood and rooted in Coast land grievances rather than tribal hostility.
For a man who once lectured Kenyans about “basic political decency” while defending himself against Vera Sidika jokes, the moment carried delicious political symmetry.
But Omar is renowned for his enjoyment of political jabs, and there’s no telling he will stop soon.
Memorably, not even his former party leader Kalonzo was exempt from his barbs.
READ ALSO: “You Are Stupid”: Ruto Mocks Kalonzo’s Leadership Record in Fiery Remarks
The moment came when Kalonzo, in 2023 at Bomas of Kenya during the National Dialogue Committee, bluntly told Omar he “would never be governor”.
Omar retaliated instantly, declaring Kalonzo “would never be president”.
The clash arose as Kalonzo was describing his journey as a running mate to Azimio La Umoja leader Raila Odinga, both in 2013 and 2017; he was cut short by Omar, who said Kalonzo ‘passed through’ in 2007, a remark that annoyed Kalonzo.
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