Oburu Odinga Clarifies’ Benevolent Dictatorship’ Remarks After National Backlash

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Oburu Odinga has defended his controversial remarks urging President William Ruto to embrace what he described as “benevolent dictatorship,” insisting his comments were deliberately taken out of context and misrepresented by critics.

Speaking in Yala, Gem Constituency in Siaya County, Oburu said he was not advocating authoritarian rule but encouraging the President to demonstrate firm, visionary and selfless leadership when implementing reforms aimed at improving the lives of Kenyans.

According to the ODM leader, critics focused on the word “dictatorship” while ignoring the qualifier that gave his statement its intended meaning.

“If those people don’t understand English, I will teach them,” Oburu said.

He maintained that his message to President Ruto was about remaining committed to transformative government programmes despite political opposition and pressure from competing interests.

“I encouraged the President to occasionally employ a level of ‘benevolent dictatorship’ to stand firm, cut through the political noise, and make the hard, bold decisions necessary to achieve the absolute best for all Kenyans,” he said.

Oburu explained that, in his view, benevolent leadership is characterised by selflessness, vision and a commitment to serving citizens rather than personal or political interests.

“Benevolent means as a president who is selfless, serving his people and has vision which will benefit the people. But with some people dragging you, you implement them first,” he said.

To reinforce his argument, Oburu pointed to Singapore’s rapid transformation from a developing nation into one of the world’s strongest economies, saying decisive leadership played a significant role in that journey.

“Let us follow what Singapore did. Their leader used benevolent dictatorship in order to push Singapore to the First World,” Oburu said.

“At independence, Singapore and Kenya were at the same level of development. Right now they are 40 times the economy of Kenya and this is because of a little bit of push.”

The controversy stems from comments Oburu made earlier this week during the signing into law of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill, 2026, at State House in Nairobi.

During the event, he argued that successive governments have often struggled to implement transformative policies because of pressure from vested interests seeking short-term benefits instead of long-term national development.

“We have been in government, and I was an Assistant Minister of Finance. We tried to move, but the private interests around who want to benefit from small infrastructure, which does not take the country anywhere, always come in to put pressure on the government, making it not to progress,” he said during the event.

“Sometimes there is too much democracy; there should be a little benevolent dictatorship so that some things can move. Mr President, I don’t want to say that you should be a dictator; I am not saying that.”

Those remarks quickly ignited a heated political debate, with critics accusing the veteran politician of endorsing authoritarianism and undermining democratic principles. Supporters, however, argued that his comments were intended to encourage bold leadership capable of overcoming political resistance to reforms.

Oburu has now dismissed claims that he was advocating dictatorship in its conventional sense, insisting his message was about strong, visionary and selfless governance that prioritises national development over political expediency.

Other News: Joy Kanini Gathu Murder: Prime Suspect Arrested While Allegedly Fleeing to Uganda