{"id":147059,"date":"2026-07-17T06:02:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T06:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/gachagua-set-to-lead-ol-kalou-thanksgiving-tour-after-dcps-emphatic-by-election-victory\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T06:02:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T06:02:52","slug":"gachagua-set-to-lead-ol-kalou-thanksgiving-tour-after-dcps-emphatic-by-election-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/gachagua-set-to-lead-ol-kalou-thanksgiving-tour-after-dcps-emphatic-by-election-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Gachagua set to lead Ol Kalou thanksgiving tour after DCP\u2019s emphatic by-election victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI,Kenya June 17 \u2013 Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua is set to lead a thanksgiving tour across Ol Kalou Constituency on Friday, barely hours after his party secured a resounding victory in the parliamentary by-election that handed it its first seat in the National Assembly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gachagua, accompanied by elected leaders and supporters, is expected to traverse all the five wards in the constituency, making stopovers at Ndundori Gwa Kiongo, Ngorika, Tumaini, Ol Kalou Town before concluding the celebrations in Miharati Town.<\/p>\n

Among the leaders expected to accompany him are Nyandarua Senator John Methu, Kipipiri MP Wanjiku Muhia and other DCP-allied politicians, as the party celebrates what it has described as a major political breakthrough in the Mt Kenya region.<\/p>\n

The thanksgiving tour comes after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared Sammy Douglas Kamau Waweru, popularly known as Sammy Kamau Ngotho, the duly elected Member of the National Assembly for Ol Kalou Constituency following Thursday\u2019s by-election.<\/p>\n

IEBC Returning Officer Antony Njiraine announced that Kamau garnered 35,440 votes, trouncing United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate Samuel Muchina Nyagah, who managed 5,450 votes in one of the most one-sided parliamentary by-election contests in recent years.<\/p>\n

Jubilee Party candidate Wilson Mwaniki Kigwa finished a distant third with 198 votes, followed by Stephen Wanyoike Waithaka (NLP) with 103 votes, Timothy Kamau Kariuki (PM) with 51 votes, Edwin Kariiri Muchiri (PNU) with 28 votes, Abdifatah Hussein Abdullahi (FPK) with 19 votes, Edward Mathenge Mwaniki (KMM) with 16 votes, and Rachael Wangui Njoroge (PDP) with 11 votes.<\/p>\n

According to the electoral commission, the constituency had 73,480 registered voters, of whom 41,656 cast their ballots, translating to a voter turnout of 57 per cent.<\/p>\n

The Ol Kalou contest attracted national attention after evolving into a high-stakes political showdown between the opposition and President William Ruto\u2019s Kenya Kwanza administration, with senior leaders from both camps pitching camp in Nyandarua in the final days of campaigning.<\/p>\n

For the opposition, the by-election was viewed as a test of Gachagua\u2019s influence in the vote-rich Mt Kenya region following his fallout with the Kenya Kwanza administration. On the government side, the contest was seen as an opportunity to demonstrate that UDA still commands significant support in the region despite growing political realignments.<\/p>\n

Voting on Thursday was largely peaceful across the constituency but was punctuated by isolated incidents of violence in Ol Kalou town, where armed groups disrupted the exercise and assaulted several journalists covering the election. The attacks drew condemnation from media organisations, civil society groups and political leaders, who demanded investigations and prosecution of those responsible.<\/p>\n

After polling closed, ballot boxes from all polling stations were transported under heavy police escort to the constituency tallying centre at Ol Kalou Senior School, where supporters from rival camps kept vigil as results trickled in through the night before Kamau was formally declared the winner early Friday.<\/p>\n

Following the announcement, the IEBC thanked voters, candidates, political parties, election officials, security agencies, observers, the media and other stakeholders for contributing to what it described as a peaceful and orderly electoral process.<\/p>\n

Kamau\u2019s victory gives DCP its first Member of Parliament and is expected to strengthen Gachagua\u2019s campaign to consolidate political support in the Mt Kenya region ahead of the 2027 General Election, while piling pressure on UDA after suffering a heavy defeat in one of the country\u2019s most closely watched by-elections.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI,Kenya June 17 \u2013 Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua is set to lead a thanksgiving tour across Ol Kalou Constituency on Friday, barely hours after his party secured a resounding victory in the parliamentary by-election that handed it its first seat in the National Assembly. Gachagua, accompanied by elected leaders and […]<\/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-147059","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\/147059","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=147059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}