Former Deputy President and Democracy for the Citizens (DCP) party leader Rigathi Gachagua has accused Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen of deploying security officers and state-sponsored goons to disrupt a Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) political campaign in Ol Kalou, Nyandarua County.

In a statement released on his X handle on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, Gachagua said that a special police unit had been dispatched to the area, alleging that its members had begun abducting and assaulting DCP supporters.

According to Gachagua, the officers and the goons arrived in Ol Kalou hours before the planned political activities and launched what he described as a crackdown targeting his supporters.

“Our teams are held up at the Royal Garden Hotel under brutal police and state-sponsored militia. Goons are currently breaking into the hotel,” Gachagua said.

The former deputy president further noted that DCP campaigners had been subjected to indiscriminate beatings and forced abductions, accusing the government of using security agencies to intimidate members of the opposition.

Gachagua further hailed residents of Ol Kalou for what he described as resisting the alleged operation, thanking them for standing with his political movement despite the reported confrontations.

In his statement, Gachagua declared that “Ol Kalou is not Mbeere”, in an apparent reference to a previous by-election in which the United Democratic Alliance party outdid the opposition in clinching the parliamentary seat in the Mbeere North constituency in November 2025.

Blame game

Olkalou constituency by-elections slated for July 16, 2026, have shaped up into a supremacy battle between the ruling party, United Democratic Alliance (UDA), and the Democracy for the Citizens party (DCP).

The elections have been increasingly seen as a fierce battle for the control of the vote-rich Mount Kenya region, with each side fighting to outshine the other.

The united opposition has been accusing the government side of police brutality and the use of state-sponsored goons to disrupt the opposition’s meetings, while the government maintains that the opposition side is responsible for sponsoring the goons in a move to frame the government.