By Were Kelly
The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) has overturned the expulsion of nominated Senator Gloria Magoma Orwoba from the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), ruling that the whole process was illegal and full of procedural mistakes.
The tribunal, chaired by Hon. Desma Nungo, said UDA’s disciplinary committee acted with “blatant disregard of the law”.
In a 34-page decision released on August 20, 2025, the tribunal nullified the decisions of May 16 and May 19, 2025 that led to Orwoba’s removal and the subsequent announcement of a Senate vacancy.
The ruling highlighted several irregularities including failure to serve Orwoba with a signed complaint, insufficient time to prepare her defence and ignoring a High Court order that seemed to pause the proceedings.
A key piece of evidence was an audio recording of the disciplinary hearing submitted by Orwoba which UDA opposed on grounds of privacy.
The tribunal accepted it as evidence saying it was “participant monitoring” not unlawful surveillance. The recording showed that UDA’s lawyers did not serve Orwoba with the complaint and that the committee had agreed to suspend discussions.
Orwoba who was represented by her lawyer Moses Mabeya said the whole process was political and fundamentally flawed.
UDA and the Senate had challenged the tribunal’s jurisdiction saying disputes on Senate membership should be heard in the High Court. But the PPDT said its ruling was on UDA’s internal disciplinary actions not the Senate vacancy itself.
The tribunal gave Orwoba a big win, declaring her expulsion unlawful, nullifying the disciplinary decisions, preventing UDA from removing her from the party register and awarded her costs.
“This was a political process disguised as a procedural moment,” the tribunal said, warning against actions that could “enable a miscarriage of justice.”
