Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has for the first time publicly cast doubt on the legitimacy of President William Ruto’s 2022 election victory, saying he remains convinced that the late opposition leader Raila Odinga won the vote.

Kenyatta made the remarks at a Jubilee Party National Executive Committee meeting in Nairobi, where he also defended his record of supporting Odinga’s presidential campaign and urged political leaders to avoid internal divisions ahead of the 2027 election.

“Tulifanya kila kitu kumsaidia Baba awe Rais wa Jamhuri yetu ya Kenya. Na kura akapata, na mimi mpaka wa leo najua ya kwamba yeye ndiye alishinda hiyo kura,” Kenyatta said.

“We did everything to help him become President of Kenya, and to this day I know that he won that election,” he said, according to a translation of his remarks.

Kenyatta did not provide new vote-counting evidence to support the claim. He referred instead to what he said were events surrounding the 2022 election and questioned how the political coalition supporting Odinga could have secured significant numbers of seats in Parliament and county governments while losing the presidency.

“How can you say you won yet we have most Members of Parliament, Senators and Governors? How could you say we lost? We know how things went down,” he said.

The official presidential results, however, show a different outcome. Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission declared William Ruto the winner with 7,176,141 votes, or 50.49%, against Odinga’s 6,942,930 votes, or 48.85%.

Odinga challenged the result before Kenya’s Supreme Court in 2022. The court upheld Ruto’s victory.

Kenyatta, who was president from 2013 until 2022, also rejected criticism that his administration and political network had failed to support Odinga sufficiently during the election.

“I am shocked to hear people saying that we did not help Baba, saying that Uhuru Kenyatta did not win. I was not the one at the ballot; I was just Raila’s handyman,” he said.

He called for restraint as political parties position themselves for the 2027 election.

“Using dirty politics will not take us anywhere; let nobody try to divide us. What does it help you? Share your manifesto,” Kenyatta said.

The former president also reiterated his support for former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, who has been endorsed by Jubilee as its presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

Kenyatta said his support for Matiang’i was based on his own view of the former minister’s character and approach to public service.

“He is respectful, he is not corrupt, he loves Kenyans, he is a hard worker,” Kenyatta said.