I will speak up: Uhuru reopens 2022 poll row, says Raila won contest as Ruto allies fire back

Uhuru Kenyatta’s claim that Raila won the 2022 election has reignited political debate over a contest the Supreme Court already settled legally. [Courtesy, Standard]

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has, for the first time, cast doubt on the legitimacy of President William Ruto’s 2022 General Election victory, claiming he knows the late Raila Odinga won the contest.

Speaking during a Jubilee Party National Executive Council meeting in Nairobi, Uhuru said he remained convinced Odinga had secured the votes after Jubilee joined his presidential campaign, suggesting that what happened after the ballot was cast changed the outcome, and that those who know what happened should tell the truth.

“We did everything to help Baba become President of the Republic of Kenya. And he got the votes, and to this day I know that he is the one who won that election. We know how things went, and we do not want it to happen that way again,” Uhuru said.

Uhuru also questioned how Odinga could have lost the presidency while the political coalition backing him performed strongly in parliamentary and county elections.

“How can you say you won yet we had more Members of Parliament, more senators and more governors than the other side? How did we lose this one? Let us not deceive ourselves,’’ Uhuru remarked.

“We know how things went, and we do not want it to happen that way again,’’ he added.

The declaration reopens one of Kenya’s most disputed political questions: whether the official 2022 result accurately reflected the presidential vote.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission declared Ruto the winner with 7,176,141 votes, against Odinga’s 6,942,930. The Supreme Court subsequently dismissed petitions challenging the result and upheld Ruto’s election.

Uhuru’s latest intervention gives fresh political weight to claims that the electoral process may have failed to deliver the result he believed Kenyans had voted for.

His statement also comes as he relinquishes formal leadership of Jubilee to former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, the party’s presidential candidate for 2027.

Rather than signalling political retirement, Uhuru indicated that he was moving into a different role of leadership patron and advisor, from which he would continue championing Jubilee and its coalition partners.

That prospect has turned the former President’s political retirement into another front in his bitter confrontation with Ruto.

Uhuru’s latest declaration has drawn a response from UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar, who accused Uhuru of refusing to accept the outcome of the 2022 election.

Omar said the former President continued to dwell on the defeat and questioned his account of what happened during the election.

“President William Ruto conclusively won the 2022 elections and defeated Uhuru’s illegal, devious and evil plans,’’ Omar said.

He also accused the former administration of using State machinery to influence the 2022 contest, citing claims involving the disappearance of Kenyans associated with UDA, alleged threats against then-IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and the confrontation at the Bomas of Kenya tallying centre on August 15, 2022.

Omar also credited Ruto with helping Uhuru secure the presidency in 2013 and 2017, when Ruto served as his running mate, arguing that their political partnership was central to the two victories.

The response brings the bitter fallout between the former allies back into the 2027 political contest.

The two men once shared power, winning the presidency together in 2013 and 2017. Their alliance collapsed after Uhuru’s 2018 rapprochement with Odinga, leaving Ruto to build a separate political movement that eventually defeated the alliance behind his former boss.

Since taking office, Ruto has repeatedly challenged Uhuru’s decision to remain politically active.

The President has urged his predecessor to retire into the role of a statesman instead of acting as an opposition leader. In one of his recent attacks, Ruto described Uhuru as a ‘rebel leader’ and questioned how the retired President could hope to defeat him politically after losing the 2022 contest.

Ruto has also accused Uhuru of bankrolling opposition politicians and movements seeking to challenge his administration ahead of the 2027 election.

The accusation has become a recurring theme in Kenya Kwanza politics. Uhuru’s response to the ‘sponyo’ label was delivered with sarcasm.

At a funeral in Murang’a on September 18, Uhuru ended his remarks by referring to himself as “sponyo”, a playful version of sponsor, drawing laughter from mourners.

The political fight has also split into the question of Uhuru’s retirement benefits.

On September 3, High Court Justice Lawrence Mugambi upheld Section 6 of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act, which bars a retired president from holding a leadership position in a political party beyond six months after leaving State House. Uhuru subsequently indicated he would relinquish the Jubilee chairmanship.

The ruling appeared to give Ruto’s argument a legal foothold: that Uhuru should leave formal party leadership and settle into retirement.

But on September 21, Justice Bahati Mwamuye delivered a contrasting judgment, declaring Section 6 unconstitutional and void in its entirety.

The court held that leaving the presidency ends presidential authority, but does not extinguish a former president’s constitutional rights as a citizen. It also declared Sections 4(1), 4(2) and 4(3), which allowed retirement benefits to be withheld, reduced or withdrawn in specified circumstances, unconstitutional.

The judgment further barred reliance on those provisions to disadvantage a former president’s protected retirement benefits.

The two rulings have created a legal split over the political rights of retired presidents and the statutory framework governing their benefits.

For Uhuru, the latest ruling removes a legal obstacle to continued political participation. For Ruto’s administration, it complicates efforts to draw a clear line between presidential retirement and political activity.

The court battle has therefore become part of the wider political struggle between the former President and his successor. That struggle now has a 2022 dimension.

Uhuru’s declaration that Odinga won effectively challenges the political legitimacy narrative surrounding Ruto’s presidency, even though it does not overturn the legal finding of the Supreme Court.

If Uhuru is certain that Odinga won, his claim raises questions about what he believes happened between the casting of ballots and the final declaration. Was the problem in tallying, verification, transmission or another part of the electoral process?

The IEBC remains the institution responsible for conducting and supervising elections and declaring presidential results. Any suggestion that the official result did not reflect the vote therefore inevitably places renewed scrutiny on the commission and the safeguards surrounding the tallying process.

The timing of Uhuru’s statement is also important.

With Matiang’i taking a more prominent role in Jubilee’s 2027 campaign, Uhuru appears to be moving from formal party leadership towards a broader political role. His influence could be exercised through coalition-building, mobilisation and strategic support rather than an official party position.

Jubilee’s transition therefore does not necessarily mark the end of Uhuru’s political involvement. Instead, it could signal a shift from being the party’s formal leader to becoming a senior figure helping shape its coalition and presidential project.

That makes the Ruto-Uhuru rivalry increasingly resemble a political rematch of 2022.

In the first contest, Uhuru was the incumbent President backing Odinga while Ruto ran against the establishment. In the emerging 2027 contest, Ruto is the incumbent seeking another term while Uhuru is a retired President supporting an opposition candidate.

The positions have changed, but the rivalry remains.

Ruto is seeking to define Uhuru as a retired leader who should stay out of active politics. Uhuru’s latest intervention suggests he does not accept that political retirement requires silence.

The conflicting court rulings have strengthened that position by placing constitutional political rights at the centre of the debate.

The election declaration adds another layer. Uhuru is no longer merely defending his right to participate in politics; he is challenging the interpretation of the election that removed his preferred successor from State House.

It is about who gets to shape the political memory of that election, who has the right to remain active after leaving State House, and whether the institutions that conducted the last presidential contest can command confidence in the next one.

The Supreme Court closed the legal chapter on the 2022 election. Uhuru’s latest intervention has reopened the political debate over what happened and who gets to shape the memory of that contest.