NAIROBI, Kenya- Constitutional lawyer Prof. Makau Mutua has blamed former President Uhuru Kenyatta for Raila Odinga’s loss in the 2022 presidential election, saying the former Head of State controlled both the government and Azimio’s campaign machinery.
Speaking in a live interview at Citizen TV, Mutua said the election was Raila’s to lose but argued that responsibility should not be placed on him.
“If people are looking for someone to blame, they should not look at me. They should blame Uhuru Kenyatta; he controlled the state. He was the chairman of Azimio, he controlled the funding, as chairman of Azimio, he controlled Azimio’s funds,” Mutua said.
Mutua served as Raila’s aide during the 2022 presidential campaign and was among the coalition’s most vocal defenders before and after the election.
The remarks reopen debate over the management of Azimio’s 2022 campaign, which ended with President William Ruto and his running mate Rigathi Gachagua being declared the winner by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Since then, several leaders within the opposition have offered differing accounts of what they believe contributed to Raila’s defeat, with Mutua’s latest remarks placing much of the responsibility on the former President Kenyatta’s leadership of the coalition.
“I did not control the government, I was not the president, I did not control the IEBC, or the Supreme Court. There was a private citizen, arguably one of Baba’s closest strategists and advisors,” Mutua, now an advisor of President Ruto said.
“I called him my soul mate. How does this private individual who teaches in New York come to Kenya and cause all these state institutions to deny Baba the presidency? I heard Dennis say that I took Baba hostage. Do you think that any person could take Baba hostage? If Baba was taken hostage, where were the other people?”