Nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba has finally been admitted back to the Senate after she agreed to read the prescribed apology to the house that she had previously rejected.
Speaking during a Senate hearing on Thursday, March 20, the senator said that she decided to read the apology after she consulted several members of the house including Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot.
The senator, however, clarified, in a disclaimer, that reading the apology does not mean she has inferred a confession since the apology is not scripted in her own words. The senator emphasised that she read it because it is a requirement by the house.
"Speaker, after sorting council within the house and outside, I am going to read the apology without omission and I am going to fulfill it because that is a procedure of the house," she said.
"I, Senator, Gloria Orwoba on this day, will tender the prescribed apology herein as a requirement and a filament in the senate resolution with a disclaimer that these are not y words, and in no way does it infer a confession or any admission whosoever on any liability on my part and it shall not prejudice my case in Court," she then read the apology.
Afterward, Senate Speaker Amason Kingi confirmed, "Senator Gloria, you are hereby admitted to the chamber."
The development came two days after the senator strongly declined to read the same apology which she claimed was self-incriminatory and would be used against her in her pending court case.
According to Kingi, one of the stipulations of Orwoba's return was for her to deliver an apology to the Senate after her 79-day suspension was reduced to 30 days.
"In accordance with the resolutions passed on September 30, 2023, and on February 26, 2025, Senator Gloria Orwoba is expected to tender an apology to the Senate, Honourable Senators, the Clerk of the Senate, and the Secretariat of Parliament before being admitted to the Senate," stated Kingi.
She was expected to read the apology verbatim without any omissions or additions.
"Mr Speaker, I, Senator Gloria Orwoba, hereby tender my unreserved apology to this Senate. I undertake that I shall abide by the responsibilities of leadership as set out in the constitution, the Leadership and Integrity Act 2012, and the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act 2017. I therefore beseech to be admitted to the chamber. I thank you," Orwoba read.
However, this was not satisfactory to the Speaker who revealed that Orwoba had skipped several sections of the apology that had been approved by the Senate plenary.
After failing to compel Orwoba to read the statement as is, Speaker Kingi gave her an ultimatum stating, "You either read this apology as prescribed or you go think about it and come back any day or any time you will be willing to read it as is prescribed."
It was at this point that Orwoba stood her ground, refusing to perjure herself on the ongoing court case and opting to walk away instead.
On Wednesday, March 19, however, the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-Kenya) slammed the Senate for trying to push the Nominated Senator to read a scripted apology stressing that this contravened the constitutional and human rights of the senator.
