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Court relief for Gloria Orwoba after Senate backs her ouster
Nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba.
The contested ouster of nominated senator Gloria Orwoba now hangs in the balance after the High Court stopped her removal, even as Senate Speaker Amason Kingi ratified her expulsion and declared her seat vacant.
Justice Lawrence Mugambi suspended her expulsion from the ruling party until determination of her case against the United Democratic Party (UDA) disciplinary committee and Registrar of Political Parties.
“...a conservatory order is issued suspending the implementation of the decision of the UDA Party Disciplinary Committee dated May 16, 2025 expelling the Petitioner as member of the UDA party or a nominated senator,” said the judge.
At the same time, Ms Orwoba has initiated contempt proceedings against seven United Democratic Party (UDA) officials, including Chairperson Cecily Mbarire and Secretary-General Hassan Omar, over alleged defiance of a court order that had stopped her expulsion.
She believes her removal is null and void, arguing that it was executed on bold disobedience of an order stopping UDA from conducting disciplinary proceedings.
Senate gazette notice
However, the court order was released at 1pm Wednesday, a few hours after Speaker Kingi announced through a gazette notice that her seat was vacant effective May 21, 2025.
The Speaker disclosed that he declared the vacancy following a request by Mr Omar on May 19, 2025.
“I also received a letter dated May 20, 2025 (the following day) from the Registrar of Political Parties communicating the decision of the Disciplinary committee of UDA on the expulsion of Senator Orwoba from the UDA party. Attached to the letter was a copy of the disciplinary committees’ decision and ratification by the National Executive Committee of UDA,” said Mr Kingi.
Resulting from the correspondences, the Speaker said he had notified the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and UDA of the vacancy in the Senate.
Ms Orwoba was expelled from UDA over alleged gross misconduct and violating the party's constitution and code of conduct by attending the homecoming ceremony of former Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i, as well as criticising President William Ruto’s labour mobility programme.
Asking the court to suspend the removal, her lawyer Moses Mabeya told the judge that the expulsion was unlawful and of no legal effect since it had been stopped by the court last week.
She now wants UDA officials including Charles Njenga (chairperson), Paul Karuga, Fatuma Ahmed, Georgiadis Majimво, Carolyne Mulondo Bosco, Hassan Omar and Cecily Mbarire committed to civil jail or fined penalties that the court may deem fit for blatantly disobeying and frustrating express orders of the court.