NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 17 – Democracy for the Citizens Party Leader Rigathi Gachagua has intensified his attacks on Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, accusing him of orchestrating the deployment of armed goons and rogue police officers to intimidate voters during the Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election.
Addressing the nation after Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) candidate Sammy Douglas Kamau Waweru was declared the winner, Gachagua dismissed Murkomen’s pledge to investigate the election violence, insisting the Interior CS should instead investigate himself.
“If Murkomen has called for an investigation, he must call for an investigation into himself because he is the one who authorised these attacks in Ol Kalou,” Gachagua claimed.
The former Deputy President alleged that the violence witnessed during Thursday’s poll was state-sponsored and intended to overturn the will of the voters.
He accused the government of deploying hooded men, plainclothes police officers and armed gangs to disrupt the election, claiming the operation had the backing of senior government officials.
“The killer gangs were authorised by Kipchumba Murkomen,” Gachagua alleged, further accusing the CS of overseeing what he termed “goonism and extrajudicial killings.”
Without providing evidence, Gachagua also named several politicians and government officials whom he alleged coordinated different groups involved in the violence, claiming they acted under the authority of President William Ruto with Murkomen’s operational support.
He also questioned the government’s commitment to investigating the masked men seen carrying firearms during the poll.
“When Murkomen promises an investigation into men wielding weapons that only the police have access to, you ask yourself how stupid he thinks Kenyans are. He wants us to believe automatic rifles were paraded openly in a constituency with 2,000 police officers and nobody noticed,” Gachagua said.
The DCP leader further alleged that one person was killed, several others injured and dozens of women were sexually assaulted during the unrest—claims that had not been independently verified by the authorities at the time of his address.
He also called for the immediate release of young people arrested during the by-election, claiming they had been detained on what he described as “trumped-up charges.”
The remarks came a day after Murkomen warned that anyone found responsible for violence or disorder during the Ol Kalou by-election, including security officers who may have used excessive force, would face the full force of the law.
“Allegations of some persons causing havoc in Ol Kalou must be investigated, and anyone found culpable must be arrested,” Murkomen said while speaking in Trans Nzoia County.
The Interior CS maintained that the Inspector General of Police had deployed adequate security personnel to safeguard the electoral process.
The exchange follows chaotic scenes during the by-election, when heavily armed masked men travelling in unmarked vehicles stormed parts of the constituency, assaulted journalists, confiscated media equipment and dispersed residents with tear gas.
Authorities have yet to publicly identify the armed men seen in the convoy, even as investigations into the incidents continue.