ODM leader Oburu Oginga has challenged former President Uhuru Kenyatta to explain why he allowed William Ruto to take power in 2022 if he was convinced that Raila Odinga had won the presidential election.
In a strongly worded statement, Oburu said Uhuru’s claim that Raila won the election four years ago confirmed what ODM had maintained at the time, but argued that the former President must now provide the full account of what happened.
Oburu posed three questions to Uhuru on why he was raising the issue four years later, why his government facilitated the transfer of power to Ruto if he believed he had lost, and what he expected Kenyans to do with the revelation today.
“Now that President Kenyatta has chosen to exhume the deeply painful question of the 2022 election, he owes Kenyans some answers,” Oburu said.
Uhuru said on Tuesday that he remained convinced Raila won the 2022 presidential election, arguing that the political strength of the Azimio coalition in the parliamentary and gubernatorial races did not tally with its loss of the presidency. The official results declared Ruto the winner with 7,176,141 votes against Raila’s 6,942,930, while the Supreme Court upheld the result.
Oburu said ODM had accepted the constitutional outcome and deliberately moved on, despite what he described as significant political sacrifices made during its relationship with Uhuru.
He cited the 2018 Handshake, ODM’s decision not to demand Cabinet positions in Uhuru’s government and concessions made ahead of the 2022 election, including giving up its push for the Nairobi governorship.
The ODM leader said Uhuru’s latest remarks had reopened an issue that remained deeply sensitive to the party and Raila’s supporters.
“The 2022 election and the sacrifices of our departed Party Leader must not be reduced to material for contemporary vote-winning propaganda,” Oburu said.
He challenged Uhuru to “tell the country the whole story” if he had decided to reopen the debate over the 2022 election.
