Tension gripped Ol Kalou, Nyandarua County, on Wednesday night after former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen traded accusations following reports of chaos and gunshots near a hotel where Democracy for Citizens (DCP) party officials were meeting ahead of the July 16 parliamentary by-election.
The incident occurred as the DCP party claimed its campaign strategists had been trapped inside the hotel while unrest unfolded outside. In a statement, Gachagua accused security officers and what he called state-sponsored groups of targeting his supporters, alleging that campaigners had been assaulted and arrested.
“They arrived three hours ago and started abductions and indiscriminate beatings of DCP campaigners. Our teams are held up at the hotel under brutal police and State-sponsored militia. Goons are currently breaking into the hotel,” Gachagua said. He further alleged Murkomen had dispatched a “Nairobi Sierra killer squad” to disrupt his party’s activities.
Murkomen swiftly hit back, dismissing the allegations as “juvenile” reverse psychology and warning against any attempt to incite violence during the campaign period. “Try violence in Ol Kalou, and you will see. To anyone being recruited to violence by Mr Gachagua, keep off because the consequences will be dire,” he said.
Mathira MP Eric Wamumbi offered a conflicting account, claiming he had left the hotel shortly before the confrontation and accusing individuals linked to Gachagua’s camp of attacking women Members of the County Assembly and a female East African Legislative Assembly legislator. He alleged Gachagua’s personal assistant and other associates led the group.
As of publication, no official police statement had confirmed the reported gunshots or assigned responsibility for the unrest. The seat fell vacant after MP David Njuguna Kiaraho’s death in March, and the by-election is scheduled for July 16.