Former Senator Gloria Orwoba during a media briefing on July 15, 2025 after the court awarded Senate Clerk Sh10.5 million in a defamation case against her. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

It’s hard to keep track of Mheshimiwa Gloria Orwoba. I’m not sure if she’s still a Nominated Senator or not, after she was kicked out by UDA, the ruling party, after she reportedly appeared at a rally or rallies addressed by one Fred Matiang’i.

I didn’t know such transgressions could have such grave consequences, but she was hustled out of office faster than the UDA wheelbarrow in Kericho was tossed to the ground.

Our good mheshimiwa was in the news this week because the courts decreed she had defamed a top official in Bunge, claiming she had been sexually harassed. Consequently, she was ordered to pay mamili or face jail-time.

From a humanitarian point of view, one shouldn’t be asked to pay fines when your salary has been curtailed, but then, I’m neither a lawyer nor politician, so my opinion doesn’t count. In any case, Madam Orwoba doesn’t need anyone holding brief for her.

So, she went all out this week, not just restating her claims in the people’s court, but also singling out others for special attack. She says she stands by her claims that female politicians are routinely harassed for sex by their male colleagues, and she dropped a few names to illustrate her point.

One would wonder why our politicians, earning more than a million shillings a month for 2.5 days of work per week would succumb to such machinations. Apparently, the catch is in foreign trips, which our MPs negotiate on the backside.

So competitive are the junkets, the men who control the purse-strings aren’t just dishing out trips to those who submit; they evaluate the backside performances as well! God save Kenya.