Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has revived one of Kenya's most contentious political disputes by saying he remains convinced that Raila Odinga won the 2022 presidential election.
Speaking during a Jubilee Party meeting on Tuesday, Kenyatta questioned how the Azimio coalition could have performed strongly in parliamentary, Senate and gubernatorial contests but lost the presidency.
“To this day, I know that he is the one who won that election,” Kenyatta said of Odinga.
The statement is Kenyatta's political claim.
It does not change the official or legal outcome of the 2022 election.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission declared William Ruto president after crediting him with 7,176,141 votes, or 50.49% of valid votes cast.
Odinga received 6,942,930 votes, or 48.85%.
Odinga and other petitioners challenged the result before the Supreme Court.
The court unanimously rejected the petitions and upheld Ruto's election.
That distinction is particularly important as political arguments from 2022 begin resurfacing ahead of the August 2027 General Election.
Kenyatta's argument about Azimio winning more seats in some other categories does not, by itself, establish the presidential result.
Kenyan voters cast separate ballots for president, governor, senator, woman representative, MP and MCA. A voter can support candidates from different parties or coalitions in different races.
Presidential votes must therefore be established from the presidential ballot itself rather than inferred from the number of parliamentary or county seats a coalition wins.
Why, then, is 2022 becoming an issue again?
Part of the answer lies in Kenyatta's renewed political activity.
At the same Jubilee meeting, he proposed former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to take over the party's leadership, subject to the appropriate party processes.
Matiang'i has accepted the proposed transition.
Kenyatta has indicated that he intends to remain involved as a senior adviser rather than disappear from party politics altogether.
That places the former president inside the political negotiations surrounding the next election even though he cannot seek another presidential term under the Constitution.
The 2022 dispute also intersects with current arguments over electoral rules.
Opposition politicians are already pushing for safeguards around tallying and transmission before 2027.
For Ruto's allies, Kenyatta's comments provide an opportunity to portray his current political activity as a continuation of an unresolved grievance from the election that brought Ruto to power.
For Kenyatta and his allies, revisiting 2022 appears connected to demands for tighter electoral safeguards before the next contest.
Those are political interpretations.
The established facts remain narrower.
Ruto was declared winner in 2022. The result was challenged. The Supreme Court upheld it.
Nothing Kenyatta said on Tuesday changes that legal record.
What his remarks do change is the politics surrounding it.
An election settled by the courts four years ago is becoming part of the argument over the election Kenya will hold next year.
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Category: Politics · Related Topic: William Ruto
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