A bodaboda rider who carried Uhuru Kenyatta on his motorbike during the 2002 general election campaigns in Busia has requested to meet the president as promised then.
Donald Omai from Kakapel in Teso North sub county told this writer that Mr Uhuru, who was campaigning in Busia told him he would want to meet him if he became president.
“He (Uhuru) landed at the Amagoro polytechnic grounds in Amagoro town and I mobilised youth to go and meet him,” Mr Omai said in an interview.
“When he alighted from the helicopter he requested to be driven on a motorcycle. I carried him from the polytechnic to Deep West hotel where he was scheduled to meet councilors (now MCAs).”
Uhuru, who by then was contesting for the presidency on a Kanu ticket and prospecting to take over the leadership of the country from then President Daniel arap Moi was accompanied by former Nation Media Group Chief Executive Officer and former Amagoro MP Albert Ekirapa.
Omai said he rode Uhuru with little knowledge that the man who sat on his motorbike would later become the commander in chief of Kenya’s armed forces.
“After addressing the councilors, I again carried him to the polytechnic from where he told me before boarding the helicopter that if he became president, he would want to meet me because he had never used a motorbike in his campaign.”
“I just want to tell the president to give me a chance to meet him.”
It is however, not clear whether Uhuru had wanted to meet him on becoming president after the 2002 general elections or at any other time if he contested for the presidency and won.
He says his attempts to get audience with the president have been unfruitful since people he seeks advice from tell him of how difficult it is to access State House to meet Kenya’s fourth head of state.
Omai said he visited Nairobi in 2014 intending to go State House but returned home without reaching the house on the hill because he could not locate it.
“At the beginning of 2014, I went to Nairobi and returned home without seeing him (President Uhuru). Everyone I met told me of how State House is inaccessible because of the tight security the president is accorded.”
Omai, a father of five has been in the bodaboda business for the last fifteen years.
He says apart from Uhuru, other high profile politicians he has ferried on his motorbike include former cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott, MP Samuel Moroto (Kapenguria) and former Amagoro MP Albert Ekirapa.
President Uhuru is expected to tour Busia County before the end of the year to commission the tarmacking of the Busia-Malaba road.