Audio By Vocalize

Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua has accused Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja of losing command of the National Police Service, blaming rogue plainclothes officers for insecurity in Ol Kalou a day before Thursday’s parliamentary by-election.

In a 17-point letter dated Wednesday, July 15, addressed to Kanja, Gachagua said the security threat in Ol Kalou was not from goons but from rogue officers operating outside the police chief’s command.

“Mr IG Kanja, you seem not to get it; the command of the national police service has completely gone to Mr Kipchumba Murkomen, Raymond Omollo and rogue politicians allied to Mr William Ruto,” wrote Gachagua, naming Interior Cabinet Secretary Murkomen and Principal Secretary Omollo.

The Ol Kalou parliamentary seat fell vacant after the death of Jubilee MP David Kiaraho on March 29 while undergoing cancer treatment at Nairobi Hospital.

UDA has fielded Samuel Muchina Nyaga, who served as Kiaraho’s personal assistant, while DCP is backing former Ol Kalou town MCA Sammy Ngotho, who previously contested the seat on a UDA ticket in 2022.

The contest has been framed nationally as an early test of strength between UDA and Gachagua’s DCP ahead of the 2027 General Election, with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights raising concern that election-related violence has spread beyond Ol Kalou into neighbouring Gilgil.

The DCP leader said campaigns in the constituency had been peaceful and blamed all disruptions on rogue officers, dismissing a warning Kanja issued Tuesday urging young people in Ol Kalou to keep off violence ahead of the vote.

He attributed four incidents to a group he called the “Nairobi Sierra Group,” which he said operated under politicians known to Kanja.

Gachagua listed the incidents as an attack on DCP officials at the Royal Garden Hotel in Ol Kalou town on July 1, in which a mobile phone was seized and eight statements were recorded at Ol Kalou police station without action, a pepper spray attack on the DCP campaign team by plainclothes officers in unmarked vehicles on July 9, the damage of a DCP sound system by hooded gunmen on July 11 and an alleged attempted assassination of East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Kanini Kega on July 13.

“Why haven’t you spoken about it?” he posed, referring to the Kega incident.

The former deputy president confirmed Kanja had deployed more than 2,000 police officers to Ol Kalou, a number he called unprecedented in the country’s electoral history, and demanded the officers be uniformed, display service numbers, remain unhooded and use marked vehicles.

“If any violence occurs in Ol Kalou, a peaceful constituency, it is your fault and your police,” he warned.

He alleged the deployed officers had received separate instructions from Murkomen and Omollo to disrupt the start of voting, intimidate and harass agents, disrupt counting and tallying and ensure the UDA candidate is declared winner.

He further claimed General Service Unit (GSU) and anti-stock theft units had instructions to use force against any public disorder that follows a disputed result.

Gachagua said the police service had grown disgruntled under Kanja’s tenure and accused him of being the country’s most disgraced police chief since independence, alleging Kenyan officers deployed to Haiti had gone to benchmark rather than fight criminal gangs.

He urged Kanja to order the immediate withdrawal of all non-uniformed officers deployed by Murkomen in Ol Kalou.

“You have a date with destiny on 16th July, 2026,” he warned.

The letter cited Section 12 of the Election Offences Act on the use of national security organs to influence an election, which carries a fine of up to Sh10 million, up to six years in prison or both on conviction.