Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua has urged the National Police Service to ensure all officers deployed for the Ol Kalou by-election wear official uniforms, display their service numbers and use clearly marked police vehicles to promote transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.
In a letter addressed to Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja on Wednesday, Gachagua said the security deployment should facilitate a peaceful election rather than intimidate voters, candidates or party agents.
“The 2,000 police officers deployed must be uniformed, they must display their service numbers, they must not be hooded, and they must use clearly marked police vehicles,” he said.
Gachagua alleged that some plainclothes officers had targeted DCP supporters during the campaign period and accused certain security personnel of operating outside the command of the Inspector General.
“The security challenge in Ol Kalou and across Kenya isn’t too much about the goons but the plain clothes rogue police officers outside of your command,” he said.
The former deputy president maintained that campaigns in Ol Kalou had remained peaceful and dismissed claims that local youths posed a security threat. Instead, he alleged that a group he referred to as the “Nairobi Sierra Group,” which he claimed was linked to politicians, was responsible for several incidents during the campaign.
He claimed DCP officials were assaulted at the Royal Garden Hotel in Ol Kalou Town on July 1, adding that eight statements were recorded at Ol Kalou Police Station but no action had been taken. He further alleged that the party’s campaign team was attacked by plainclothes officers using unmarked vehicles on July 9, while the party’s campaign truck was damaged by hooded gunmen on July 11.
Gachagua also claimed there was an attempted assassination of East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Kanini Kega on July 13, questioning why the incident had not received public attention.
He warned that any violence during the by-election would raise questions about the effectiveness of the large police deployment, which he described as unprecedented.
The DCP leader further alleged that some officers had been instructed to disrupt voting, counting and tallying, intimidate party agents and influence the outcome of the election. He did not provide evidence to support the claims.
He also alleged that General Service Unit (GSU) and Anti-Stock Theft Unit officers had been instructed to use excessive force in the event of post-election protests.
Gachagua called on Inspector General Kanja to withdraw non-uniformed officers from the operation and use the by-election as an opportunity to restore public confidence in the National Police Service.
On Tuesday, Kanja said security officers would be deployed to all 114 polling stations in accordance with standard operational procedures. He assured residents that adequate measures had been put in place to enable them to exercise their democratic rights in a peaceful and secure environment.
