Former nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba has suffered another legal setback in her battle against the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) after the High Court struck out her petition challenging the party’s disciplinary proceedings and ordered her to pay the party’s legal costs.
The ruling, delivered on Wednesday by Justice Lawrence Mugambi, found that Orwoba’s case violated the doctrine of exhaustion and amounted to an abuse of court process. The petition, filed on May 15, 2025, sought to block UDA from proceeding with a disciplinary hearing scheduled for the following day.
Orwoba had argued that the party lacked clear disciplinary rules, claiming the process violated her constitutional rights to a fair trial and fair administrative action. She alleged that the proceedings were politically motivated and part of a witch-hunt over her alleged disloyalty to the party and links to a rival political formation.
UDA opposed the petition, questioning the High Court’s jurisdiction and urging the court to dismiss the matter. The party defended its disciplinary process and denied allegations of contempt after Orwoba claimed it had defied interim orders suspending the hearings.
In his decision, Justice Mugambi ruled that the conservatory order issued on May 15 only restrained the disciplinary committee from acting on matters cited in a May 7 letter, and there was no evidence that the committee had breached those exact terms.
Crucially, the court found that Orwoba should have first pursued her grievances through the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) in accordance with Section 39 of the Political Parties Act, and only approached the High Court on appeal if dissatisfied.
“Courts ought to be the last resort and not the first port of call,” Justice Mugambi stated, noting that Orwoba was pursuing the same dispute before both the PPDT and the High Court, which amounted to an abuse of process.
Because the petition was improperly before the court, Justice Mugambi struck it out without considering the substantive issues and awarded costs to UDA.
This ruling comes just months after another petition by Orwoba, challenging her expulsion from UDA, was also dismissed a sequence of defeats that further complicates her legal and political battles.
