'There is something he knows': Gambo backs Uhuru's claim on 2022 election

Jubilee Deputy Party Leader Beatrice Gambo. [Screen Grab]

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s claim that Raila Odinga won the 2022 presidential election has been backed by Jubilee Deputy Party Leader Beatrice Gambo.

Gambo said the former Head of State could have had access to information that many others did not.

“President Uhuru, in 2022, before he handed over to President Ruto, he was president. So he consumed raw intel. In other words, there's something he knows that probably many other people do not know,” Gambo said.

Her remarks come a day after Uhuru said he remains convinced that Odinga won the 2022 presidential election, despite the official results declaring President William Ruto the winner and the Supreme Court upholding his election.

“We did everything to help Baba become President of the Republic of Kenya. He got the votes, and to this day I know that he is the one who won those votes. We know how things happened, and we do not want it to happen that way again,” Uhuru said during a Jubilee Party meeting in Nairobi on Tuesday.

The former president also questioned how the Azimio coalition could have lost the presidency despite winning a significant number of parliamentary and county seats.

Gambo, echoing the concern, questioned why some ODM members were challenging Uhuru’s statement.

“What surprises me is that I have heard some of the MPs from Nyanza and ODM actually fighting that statement, the same people who were crying and saying that we want the servers to be opened because they had doubts about the results that were released, you know, that put President Raila as the winner of the 2022 elections,” she said.

According to Gambo, Uhuru’s remarks should prompt a review of the lessons from the 2022 election ahead of the 2027 polls.

“So what President Uhuru said about 2022, in fact, it's good that he said it, you know, so I mean that means that we want to make our elections better and more credible.”

“When President Uhuru said that we make sure that what happened will not happen, in essence, he's saying there were lessons learned in 2022. So let's look at those lessons learned and let us see how we can be able to make 2027 better,” she said.

The comments come as Jubilee undergoes a leadership transition, with Uhuru handing over the party leadership to former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, pending ratification by the party’s National Delegates Convention. Uhuru said he would remain in Jubilee as a senior adviser.

Gambo defended Uhuru’s continued involvement in politics, saying his retirement from the presidency did not take away his rights as a Kenyan citizen.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta is going to remain relevant in the political conversation of Kenya, and why not? He's a Kenyan. He's a Kenyan citizen. That in itself qualifies him to be active in politics right now,” she said.

Adding that Jubilee would seek to contest elections across the country in 2027, from the presidency to the ward level, rather than restrict candidates to areas designated to particular coalition parties.

“So this time around, as Jubilee, we are saying we are going to field candidates from the presidency to the ward level,” Gambo said.