Former nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba has entered the renewed 2022 election debate, insisting William Ruto’s victory was genuine and pointing to her firsthand experience as a campaign agent and during the court challenge.
Orwoba, who campaigned for Ruto on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket in the 2022 election, said she witnessed the voting process and later followed the legal battle mounted by the late Raila Odinga and the Azimio la Umoja coalition.
“I have to stand by the win because I was part of the team that campaigned in the last election, and that I was actually an agent in,” Orwoba said on Thursday, September 24, 2026, during an interview at TV 47.
She said her view was also shaped by what she witnessed during the presidential petition, particularly when selected ballot boxes were opened and recounted.
“I was there throughout the whole process, including when there was the court proceeding,” she said.
Orwoba said the results from the ballot boxes examined in court matched the figures recorded on Forms 34A.
“I remember at one point we were in court where the random ballot boxes were being recounted, and each and every one of those boxes had exactly what was in the Form 34A,” she said.
She dismissed claims that Odinga was denied victory, saying the former prime minister lost the election by a relatively narrow margin.
“So, I mean, Raila did lose in 2022, fair and square. We lost with a very small margin of 200,000, and it was because of certain things,” Orwoba said.
Official results showed Ruto received 7,176,141 votes against Odinga’s 6,942,930, giving Ruto a margin of 233,211 votes.
The Supreme Court subsequently unanimously dismissed the consolidated petitions challenging the presidential election and upheld Ruto’s victory. The court considered issues including IEBC technology, Forms 34A and the tallying process before finding that the petitions had not established grounds to invalidate the result.
Orwoba’s remarks are notable given her subsequent break with UDA and her increasingly critical position towards Ruto’s administration.
She was expelled from UDA in 2025 following a dispute with the party and lost her nominated Senate seat after the party removed her from its membership register. She later challenged the move in court.
Since leaving the ruling party, Orwoba has publicly criticised Ruto and aligned herself with opposition figures, including former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, who is seeking to challenge Ruto in the 2027 election.
Her current political differences with Ruto, however, did not alter her position on the 2022 presidential result.
Her comments come days after former President Uhuru Kenyatta again said he believed Odinga won the 2022 election despite the Supreme Court upholding Ruto’s victory.
Speaking during a Jubilee Party officials’ meeting in Nairobi on Tuesday, September 22, Uhuru said:
“Na kura akapata, na mimi mpaka wa leo najua ya kwamba yeye ndiye alishinda hiyo kura.”
He added:
“Tunajua vile mambo ilienda, na hatutaki iende hivyo tena.”
The renewed debate has also brought fresh attention to the management of the Azimio campaign, including its election agents and campaign structures.
Former Raila chief agent Saitabao Kanchory previously blamed changes to the campaign structure for some of the problems encountered during the election.
“We went wrong the minute we dismantled the structures we had; the campaign board was supposed to run everything, but some individuals who wanted to have their agenda individualised it,” Kanchory said in a past interview.