{"id":146860,"date":"2026-07-15T10:02:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/gachagua-demands-all-officers-deployed-for-ol-kalou-poll-be-uniformed-display-service-numbers\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:02:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:02:58","slug":"gachagua-demands-all-officers-deployed-for-ol-kalou-poll-be-uniformed-display-service-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/gachagua-demands-all-officers-deployed-for-ol-kalou-poll-be-uniformed-display-service-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Gachagua Demands All Officers Deployed For Ol Kalou Poll Be Uniformed, Display Service Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 15 \u2014 Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua has demanded that all police officers deployed for Thursday\u2019s Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election be in full uniform, display their service numbers and use clearly marked police vehicles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a letter addressed to Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja on Wednesday, Gachagua accused sections of the security apparatus of planning to interfere with the election, alleging that plainclothes officers operating in unmarked vehicles posed a greater threat to the integrity of the poll than criminal gangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Gachagua said.<\/p>\n

The former Deputy President claimed that security operations in Ol Kalou had been taken over by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo and politicians allied to President William Ruto, alleging that the Inspector General no longer had effective command over the National Police Service.<\/p>\n

Gachagua further alleged that plainclothes police officers had been involved in a series of incidents targeting DCP supporters during the campaign period, including assaults on party officials, the use of pepper spray against campaign teams, destruction of campaign equipment and what he described as an attempted assassination of East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Kanini Kega.<\/p>\n

He accused the deployed officers of having instructions to disrupt voting, intimidate party agents, interfere with vote counting and influence the outcome in favour of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate.<\/p>\n

The DCP leader also warned that any violence during the by-election would be the responsibility of the police, arguing that the large security deployment should eliminate any possibility of disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf any violence occurs in Ol Kalou, a peaceful constituency, it is your fault and your police,\u201d Gachagua said.<\/p>\n

He urged Kanja to withdraw all non-uniformed officers from the constituency and reminded the Inspector General of provisions in the Election Offences Act prohibiting the use of national security organs to influence electoral outcomes.<\/p>\n

Gachagua\u2019s claims come a day after the National Police Service announced an extensive security operation for the by-election, saying more than 1,000 police officers, four water cannons and specialized tactical units had been deployed to guarantee a peaceful, free and credible election.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a joint briefing with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on Tuesday, Inspector General Douglas Kanja said each of the constituency\u2019s 114 polling stations would have at least two police officers, supported by standby response teams of no fewer than 14 officers.<\/p>\n

The operation also includes four platoons of General Service Unit (GSU) officers, four Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) platoons and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers tasked with investigating electoral offences such as voter bribery, violence and other election-related crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Police Service shall remain steadfast during the by-election process, ensuring a safe and secure environment where the people of Ol Kalou have an opportunity to exercise their democratic rights in peace,\u201d Kanja said.<\/p>\n

The IEBC has also confirmed that all logistical preparations for Thursday\u2019s poll are complete, while reiterating that campaigns have ended and warning that violations of the Electoral Code of Conduct, including voter bribery and campaigning on polling day, will attract legal action.<\/p>\n

The Ol Kalou by-election has emerged as a key political contest, with rival camps trading accusations of intimidation, electoral misconduct and abuse of state resources ahead of voting on Thursday.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 15 \u2014 Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua has demanded that all police officers deployed for Thursday\u2019s Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election be in full uniform, display their service numbers and use clearly marked police vehicles. In a letter addressed to Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja on Wednesday, Gachagua […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}