Top 10 Kenyans Who Made Headlines in 2022
2022 was a year full of many activities. Numerous events good and bad characterized the year. If you got the best out of the year, then congratulations and if things didn’t work as you expected, there is still a chance to try again.
Despite being a year of financial hardships, it couldn’t be interesting as it was without a little bit of gossip, critics, and acclamation. Below are some of the people who made headlines in 2022.
William Ruto
Kenya’s 5th president was in the limelight for winning the August general elections. Ruto garnered 7,176,141 (50.49%) votes against his closest competitor Raila Odinga who got 6,943,930 (48.86%) votes.
That was not enough as Kenyans boasted on social media about the president’s eloquence following his inaugural speech at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in the US. His speech sought to address the issue of climate change.
Raila Odinga
Odinga hit the discussion desk after losing the general elections for the fifth time. Rails managed 6,943,930 votes against William Ruto who got 7,176,141 votes. The Azimo la Umoja leader rejected the results saying his chief agent was not allowed to verify the results.
Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua file nine petitions to the Supreme Courts arguing that the results were tampered with. On her ruling, chief justice Martha Koome said there was no evidence of discrepancies in some of the nine issues filed by the Azimio Kenya Alliance led by Raila Odinga.
Odinga and Karua later expressed their disagreements with the findings of the Supreme Court.
Odinga announced to be on the ballot again come 2027.
Martha Karua
Karua, who was Raila Odinga’s running mate in the August 9 presidential election, had been traversing the country to sell Azimio’s agenda.
During her campaigns, she kept on mentioning humorous words which spread faster on social media. Some of the words she used were ‘Harooo asimio’ instead of hello Azimio, ‘raira ni msarendo’ which should be a Kiswahili sentence for ‘Raila ni mzalendo’ which translates to ‘Raila is a patriot to our nation.
Karua was also in the limelight in November after moving to the East African Court of Justice challenging the Kenyan Supreme Court decision that upheld the IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati’s declaration of Ruto as the winner of the August 9 presidential election.
George Wajackoya
Numerous events brought Wajackoyah to the talk zone. He was the first presidential aspirant to openly declare that he will legalize Marijuana if he is granted the latitude to serve the Republic of Kenya as the fifth commander in Chief.
Besides having a rich educational background, his manifesto launch was far away different from the Kenyan tradition. The manifesto launch at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) was more of a reggae concert than it was a customary exercise through which presidential candidates spell out their intentions for the nation every five years.
Juliana Cherera
She became the topic of discussion after leading other 3 IEBC commissioners -Irene Masit, Justus Nyang’aya, and Francis Wanderi in challenging the august general elections results announced by Wafula Chebukati.
The four stormed out of the IEBC’s national tallying center at the Bomas of Kenya on August 15. They went to the Serena Hotel in Nairobi where they addressed the press, saying that the results that Chebukati was about to announce were processed in an “opaque and unverifiable” manner.
Charlene Ruto
President Ruto’s daughter has been in the limelight severally since September. She has severally been sported engaging with governors despite being a government non-stuff.
She recently stirred up social media after introducing her team at the ‘First Daughter’s office’, something citizens were shocked to know existed.
Kenyans accused her of using taxpayers’ money to fund her office. Responding to the allegations, she said that the Office of the First Daughter was a private entity.
Linet Toto
Linet Chepkorir made history by becoming the youngest female MP at 24, in Bomet county. Her campaigns on motorbike bore fruits as she scooped 242,775 votes with her opponents Dr. Alice Milgo and Ms. Beatrice Chepkemoi garnering 43180 and 4639 votes respectively.
Ferdinand Omanyala
Omanyala was almost left out in the World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, back in July after his visa was delayed.
The incident caused an uproar on social media as netizens blamed the sports sector for prioritizing other individuals and leaving out the show’s star.
Omanyala traveled last minute to defend his title as the fasted man in Africa with a time of 9.77
Kawira Mwangaza
The Meru Governor was in trouble after 67 Members of the County Assembly voted to impeach her. Mwangaza has been accused of nepotism, misleading campaigns, and illegal appointments ever since she assumed power barely 4 months ago.
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