Political analyst Zachariah Baraza has renewed questions about the conduct of Kenya’s 2022 presidential election, citing concerns over the transmission of results, election technology and the preparedness of party agents.
Baraza’s concerns come days after former President Uhuru Kenyatta again claimed that the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga won the 2022 presidential election, despite the official declaration of President William Ruto as the winner.
Uhuru made the remarks on September 22, 2026, during a Jubilee Party meeting in Nairobi, where he said he remained convinced that Odinga had won the poll.
Speaking to Radio Generation on Thursday, Baraza questioned why presidential results took longer to reach the national tallying centre compared with results for other elective positions.
He said results for governors and senators were known much earlier after voting, raising questions about the time taken to complete the presidential tally.
“By midnight, we are at the constituency tallying centre. By morning, we are at the county tallying centre. Everything is done. You know your governor. You know your senator. But it will take six days to know the president, to get that tally from wherever it is to Bomas,” he said.
Baraza also questioned the need to physically move presidential result documents over several days when electronic systems are available for transmitting election information.
“You ask yourself why it takes IEBC up to six days to move presidential results to Bomas when voting materials can be delivered to polling stations within a day. With the technology available, the results could simply be scanned and transmitted electronically,” Baraza maintained.
He alleged that the time taken to move election materials after voting created room for possible interference during the transmission and tallying of presidential results.
“You see, they are in a hurry for people to vote. But after that, they are not in a hurry for us to vote the results, and that's where cooking takes place,” he said.
His remarks come against the backdrop of challenges recorded by election observers during the 2022 General Election.
The European Union Election Observation Mission reported that Kenya had 46,229 polling stations during the election. Of the 33 polling stations visited by observers during opening, 28 opened late, with staff preparedness and malfunctioning KIEMS kits among the reasons cited.
The mission also reported problems with biometric voter identification in 35.1 per cent of the polling stations it visited. In such cases, alternative verification methods had to be used, contributing to slower processing and queues at some stations.
However, the EU observers did not find that the problems amounted to systematic manipulation of the presidential election.
An analysis of all 290 constituency tallying-centre forms found errors in 21 Form 34Bs, representing 7.24 per cent of the forms. The differences amounted to 4,023 votes, while 12 of the forms had discrepancies involving more than 100 votes.
The EU Election Observation Mission said the inaccuracies were not large enough to change the outcome of the presidential election and could be explained by human error rather than a system-wide attempt to manipulate the results.
Baraza also raised questions about access to the IEBC election servers, saying the electoral agency had not provided enough openness about the technology used during the 2017 and 2022 elections.
He said repeated demands for access to the servers had not been fully addressed, arguing that this had left questions about the transparency of the electoral process.
The use of election technology was also examined during the 2022 presidential election petition at the Supreme Court.
The court ordered scrutiny of parts of the IEBC electronic systems and considered issues surrounding the transmission of Forms 34A and 34B. After reviewing the evidence, the Supreme Court found that the petitioners had not met the required standard of proof to establish that there had been unauthorised access to the electoral system.
Baraza further questioned how political parties prepare their presidential election agents, saying weak training and inadequate coverage could affect the checks put in place at polling stations.
“You need to prepare agents and train them. You see, you don’t just pick anybody and win the party. That’s why before election, all agents are being trained on what to look at,” he stressed.
The Supreme Court upheld Ruto’s election on September 5, 2022 following petitions challenging the presidential result.
IEBC records show that Ruto received 7,176,141 votes, representing 50.49 per cent, while Odinga received 6,942,930 votes, representing 48.85 per cent.
The latest debate was triggered by Kenyatta’s renewed assertion that Odinga won the election, with Baraza saying the former president should provide evidence to support the claim.
The analyst said the questions surrounding the 2022 election should be used to guide reforms ahead of the 2027 General Election.
He called for greater attention to the recruitment and training of election agents as well as the handling and transmission of results, saying the concerns raised after the 2022 poll should provide lessons for future elections.
Following the 2022 election, the EU Election Observation Mission issued 21 recommendations covering areas including election technology, strengthening the IEBC and improving public confidence in the electoral process.