Lawyer Willis Otieno is a man who has perfected the art of being able to align with the times to pursue his twin ambition of social justice and political power.
From dramatic presentation of his arguments before the Supreme Court that caused public sensation in 2022, to being at the centre of Gen Z protests in the past weeks, Otieno is willing to pull all stops even if it means risking his life.
Aligning with the youth has also meant that he becomes active on social media spaces like TikTok where he also shoots videos dancing and practises his rapping skills.
It is this penchant for dramatic ideas that saw Otieno attempt to have former Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir arrested in Nairobi in 2011.
Otieno was barely two-years-old in the bar and was working as a programme officer at ICJ when he broached the idea of going to High Court to move it to enforce the Rome Statute, that required state parties to arrest any person wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The court’s agreed with him, ordering the government to arrest the former Sudanese strong man.
Omar was at the time wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes in the country’s Darfur region.
Otieno was admitted to the bar in 2009.
The lawyer captured the imagination of the nation in 2022 during the proceedings of the presidential election results litigation at the Supreme Court with his humorous presentation.
He likened the electoral commission IEBC’s narratives about the poll process to the dramatic nursery rhyme “pinky ponky”.
This got the Safina deputy leader public visibility.
The protests have taken it a notch higher, especially on social media.
Lately, he has embraced the Gen Z protests with gusto, attending the street marches, speaking in the X spaces which have become the central organising tool for the movement, and providing free legal aid to arrested protesters.
The Star visited him at his law chambers in Kilimani. He recounted that he has a knack for understanding time and aligning with it, and so far, its worked for him.
“This is the time for change and the youths are the champion of it as we follow,” he said.
He does not claim to be leader of the Gen Zs or the protesting youth, but believes in the ideals they are championing.
“I have deep conviction in the things these people are pushing for. Someone has to stand up to the political maladministration that is sinking all of us into poverty that has caused mass disillusionment,” he said.
In his office, he has a set of clothes, including a few formal ones for court appearance and also informal ones with youthful taste, so he shoots short contents for his TikTok viewers.
The message is the same, he says, “we are in revolution times and we are not sparing any efforts to better communicate to masses and mobilise ourselves to free our nation.”
He freed hundreds of youths arrested during the protests and has had to stay away from his family till late at night fighting for freedom of the protesters.
“On June 18, during the first protest, I was among the lawyers who camped at Central police station till late to free over 200 young women detained there after the protests.
I was also not left behind on the historic June 25, revolution day. I was in masses matching to Parliament though some of them asked me to remain at Holy Family Basilica. Generals don’t go to the frontline,” he said.
“I have just returned from court, fighting for release of Clinton and Maurice, two young men who had been long detained for exercising their rights to demonstrate. We do this with the conviction that the constitutional rights are available to all irrespective of their station in life.”
Otieno, a close Jimi Wanjigi confidante, is believed to be positioning himself to be right with public sentiment a head of the 2027 election.
He insists his eye remains trained on being the country’s deputy president come the next polls.
The duo attempted to vie for the presidency on Safina Party ticket but were disallowed by IEBC on the grounds that Wanjigi’s papers were faulty.
