Who Is Hassan Omar? UDA's Secretary-General

Hassan Omar has been Secretary-General of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), President William Ruto's party, since 2 August 2024. He also sits in the East African Legislative Assembly. A lawyer who made his name in human rights work, he once represented Mombasa in the Senate. As of 23 September 2026 he was running for Mombasa governor for the third time, against ODM's Abdulswamad Nassir (Governor, Mombasa), and saying loudly that no deal should zone the seat to ODM.

Old Town, Lenana and the rights commission

Wikipedia records that Hassan Omar Hassan was born on 23 October 1975 in Mombasa and grew up in Old Town. He went to Lenana School and studied law at Moi University, where he led the students' organisation. In January 2007, aged 31, he was appointed a commissioner of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, later its vice-chair. He led work on extrajudicial killings, including the report "The Cry of Blood", and received the Sergio Vieira de Mello Human Rights Award in 2011.

From Wiper to UDA

Omar won the Mombasa Senate seat in March 2013 on the Wiper ticket, inside the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD), and doubled as Wiper's Secretary-General. His first run for governor, in 2017, failed.

In 2022 he ran again for governor, this time on UDA. The Mombasa poll was postponed and held on 29 August 2022; on the day he alleged bribery by ODM agents, The Star reported, and ODM's Abdulswamad Nassir won. He was then elected to the East African Legislative Assembly. He became UDA vice-chair in February 2023 and took over as Secretary-General on 2 August 2024.

The dead voters remark

At a Mombasa rally around 12 September 2026, Omar said: "Even if someone has died, we should take their fingerprint before they are buried." On 15 September he said it was a metaphor. By then the criticism had come from several directions:

• Government Spokesperson Charles Owino called the remark careless for a ruling party Secretary-General and asked the IEBC to take "stern action", the Eastleigh Voice reported.
• IEBC Commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana said fingerprint and iris checks on the KIEMS kit make voting in a dead person's name impossible, and the commission warned politicians.
• On 17 September ODM's Mombasa chair Mohamed Khamis demanded disciplinary action.
• Justin Muturi and Martha Karua cited it on 15 September when they demanded an audit of the voter register.

See how dead voters are removed from the register.

The Mombasa race

Mombasa is one of the hardest seats in the UDA-ODM talks, and Omar wants the voters to settle it with the party leaders staying out. "If someone is confident about the support they enjoy, what is the problem in letting other parties field candidates as well?" he said, as reported by The Star on 8 September. The Eastleigh Voice reported on 20 September that he calls Abdulswamad a one-term governor and has stepped up voter registration drives.

The field is crowded. Suleiman Shahbal, another East African Legislative Assembly member, quit ODM on 10 September to run on a new party, three days after Ruto publicly advised him to focus on business. Mohamed Ali (Nyali) and former Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo have also been linked to the race. A Mizani Africa poll published in December 2025 put Omar at 34.1 per cent, Abdulswamad at 27.8 per cent and Mohamed Ali at 16.6 per cent; the fieldwork dates and sample size were not stated in the report we found.

Speaking for UDA

Nationally, Omar is the one who answers for the party. On 22 September 2026, after Uhuru Kenyatta said he still believed Raila Odinga won the 2022 election, UDA under Omar hit back, defending Ruto's win. On 1 September UDA's communications director called a document claiming a UDA-ODM seat-sharing deal for the Coast fake.

The zoning test

If UDA puts Omar on the ballot against a sitting ODM governor, the zoning talks will have failed on the Coast, at least for this seat. See how coalition agreements work and the UDA-ODM agenda. Our profile of Junet Mohamed covers ODM's side of the ticket talks.