Oburu tears into Uhuru over Raila’s 2022 defeat, questions why ex-president handed power to Ruto if Raila won

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s declaration that he still believes the late Raila Odinga won the 2022 presidential election has reopened one of the most painful chapters for the ODM camp, with party leader Oburu Oginga demanding answers over what happened after the disputed vote.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Dr Oginga said Mr Kenyatta’s remarks confirmed what ODM had believed and maintained at the time, that Mr Odinga had won the election, but questioned why the former president’s administration facilitated the transfer of power to President William Ruto if he was convinced otherwise.

“If he was convinced that Raila Odinga had won, why did his government facilitate the transfer of the instruments of power to a person he believed had not won?” Dr Oginga asked.

The question puts the spotlight not only on Mr Kenyatta’s latest assertion but also on his conduct between the August 9, 2022 election and the transfer of power to Dr Ruto on September 13, 2022.

Speaking at a Jubilee Party Headquarters in Nairobi after chairing a National Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, Mr Kenyatta said he had done everything possible to support Mr Odinga’s presidential bid and remained convinced that the former ODM leader had secured the votes.

“We did all we could and he got the votes. To date, I know he won that election. I know that. We all know that,” Mr Kenyatta said.

He also questioned how the political side supporting Mr Odinga could have won a majority of parliamentary and gubernatorial seats while losing the presidency.

“You can’t say you won when we had majority MPs, Senators, Governors. How then did we lose? We all know what happened and we don’t want it to go that way again,” he said.

The remarks were significant coming from the man who occupied State House during the election and oversaw the transition that followed the declaration of Dr Ruto as president-elect.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission declared Dr Ruto the winner with 7,176,141 votes (50.49 per cent), against Mr Odinga’s 6,942,930 votes (48.85 per cent).

The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the presidential election result.

It is this sequence of events that Dr Oginga wants Mr Kenyatta to explain.

For ODM, he said, the former president’s intervention four years later was not merely a historical observation but a reopening of an issue that had caused deep political and emotional pain among supporters of Mr Odinga.

“President Kenyatta must understand that his statement touches a raw nerve within ODM and among millions of Kenyans who stood with Raila Odinga,” Dr Oginga said in his statement dispatched from the United Kingdom.

He said ODM had accepted the outcome after exhausting the constitutional avenues available to challenge the election and had deliberately chosen to move on in the interest of the country.

“However, after exhausting the constitutional avenues available to us, we chose to let the matter rest and move the country forward,” he said.

The Supreme Court had been asked to determine multiple challenges to the presidential election. In its September 26, 2022 judgment, the court dealt with the consolidated presidential election petitions brought by Mr Odinga and others.

Dr Oginga's statement therefore seeks to draw a distinction between ODM's decision to accept the constitutional outcome and Mr Kenyatta's decision, four years later, to publicly revisit the election.

He posed three questions to the retired president: why the revelation was important now rather than in 2022, why his government facilitated the transfer of power to a candidate he now says had lost, and what Kenyans are expected to do with the information today.

“These are not academic questions. Elections concern the sovereign will of the people and the legitimacy of government,” Dr Oginga charged.

The dispute also revives the political history of the relationship between Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga.

The two leaders entered into the 2018 Handshake after years of political rivalry, a development that dramatically altered the country's political landscape and eventually led to the Building Bridges Initiative.

According to Dr Oginga, ODM made significant political concessions following the Handshake in the name of national unity and stability.

He said the party did not demand Cabinet or administrative positions in Mr Kenyatta's government despite its political strength and later made further concessions ahead of the 2022 election.

Among these, he cited ODM's decision to cede its quest for important elective positions, including the Nairobi governorship (to Polycarp Igathe), as part of the broader coalition arrangement supporting Mr Odinga's presidential bid.

“We made those compromises in good faith,” Dr Oginga noted.

Mr Kenyatta, however, used his Jubilee meeting to reject suggestions that he failed to support Mr Odinga sufficiently.

“That’s why I wonder when some people say that we did not help Baba,” he said.

He recalled his role in the campaign and asked how claims that Dr Ruto defeated him could be reconciled with the fact that he was not the presidential candidate.

“When they say they beat me, is it me who was on the ballot or Raila Odinga?” Mr Kenyatta asked.

“So how did they beat me when I was Raila’s right hand man?”

Mr Kenyatta also defended the record of his administration, saying his government had implemented programmes including Kazi Mtaani, reduced business charges and investments in roads and railways, while expanding schemes such as NHIF and Linda Mama.

He acknowledged that his administration faced challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic and regional conflicts, but said it had sought to improve the lives of Kenyans.

He also revisited the political tensions that followed the Handshake and BBI, saying opponents had portrayed the constitutional reform initiative as an attempt to change the Constitution for political purposes and had framed the contest as “dynasty versus hustlers”.

His renewed account of 2022, however, immediately drew a sharp response from the United Democratic Alliance.

In a statement dated September 22, UDA Secretary-General Hassan Omar also accused Mr Kenyatta of refusing to come to terms with the 2022 defeat and insisted that Dr Ruto had won the election “decisively and conclusively”.

UDA also accused the former president of attempting to undermine the electoral process and referred to alleged disappearances of UDA supporters, threats against then-IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and events at the Bomas of Kenya on August 15, 2022.

It described Mr Kenyatta's latest remarks as evidence that he remained preoccupied with the 2022 contest and predicted that Dr Ruto would win again in 2027.

The statement also sought to recast the political history between Dr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta, arguing that Mr Kenyatta owed his victories in 2013 and 2017 to his then-deputy.

The sharp exchange illustrates how the 2022 election, despite the constitutional conclusion reached four years ago, remains politically potent as parties position themselves for the 2027 General Election.

For ODM, however, Dr Oginga's intervention is less about reopening a legal contest over the result than demanding an explanation from Mr Kenyatta about his role in the transition.

“The former president was not merely an observer of the events that followed the election. He was the incumbent Head of State when Dr Ruto was declared president-elect and subsequently assumed office.”

“That is why Dr Oburu's central question goes beyond whether Mr Kenyatta believes Mr Odinga won,” ODM Director of Communications Philip Etale says.

If the former president was convinced that Mr Odinga had won, ODM wants to know why that conviction did not translate into action when the disputed outcome was still before the country, he adds.

“Having reopened this matter, President Kenyatta should tell the country the whole story,” Dr Oginga noted.

The ODM leader warned against turning Mr Odinga's 2022 campaign and the sacrifices made by his supporters into a political tool in the current contest.

“The 2022 election and the sacrifices of our departed Party Leader must not be reduced to material for contemporary vote-winning propaganda,” he said.

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