ODM leader Oburu Oginga has challenged former President Uhuru Kenyatta to explain why his administration handed over power to President William Ruto if he was convinced that Raila Odinga had won the 2022 presidential election.
Oburu was responding to remarks by Uhuru that he still believes the late former Prime Minister won the election.
“For ODM, this confirms what we believed and maintained at the time. However, after exhausting the constitutional avenues available to us, we chose to let the matter rest and move the country forward,” Oburu said in a statement on Thursday.
He questioned why Uhuru had waited four years to make the claim and why he did not raise it when the alleged electoral injustice occurred.
“Now that President Kenyatta has chosen to exhume the deeply painful question of the 2022 election, he owes Kenyans some answers,” Oburu said.
“If he was convinced that Raila Odinga had won, why did his government facilitate the transfer of the instruments of power to a person he believed had not won?”
Oburu also asked what Uhuru expected Kenyans to do with the information now that the former President had publicly revisited the 2022 election.
Uhuru made the remarks on Tuesday during a Jubilee Party National Executive Council meeting in Nairobi, where he handed over the party leadership to former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i.
“We did everything to help Baba to be the President. He got the votes and up to date I believe he won the election but we know how things went and we don’t want a repeat of the same,” Uhuru said.
Uhuru also questioned how the coalition supporting Raila could have secured Members of Parliament, senators and governors while losing the presidential election.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission declared Ruto the winner of the August 2022 presidential election, while Raila challenged the result at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court subsequently upheld Ruto’s election.
Oburu said ODM had exhausted the constitutional avenues available after the election and had chosen to move on.
He also recalled the political relationship between ODM and Uhuru following the 2018 Handshake, saying the party had made political compromises in the interest of national unity.
According to Oburu, ODM made further concessions ahead of the 2022 election in support of the Azimio la Umoja coalition and Raila’s presidential bid.
He said those sacrifices should not now be reduced to political campaigning.
“The 2022 election and the sacrifices of our departed Party Leader must not be reduced to material for contemporary vote-winning propaganda. Having reopened this matter, President Kenyatta should tell the country the whole story,” Oburu said.
He said Uhuru’s remarks had touched a sensitive issue within ODM and among Raila’s supporters.
“Elections concern the sovereign will of the people and the legitimacy of government,” Oburu said.
