The race to replace the late Member of Parliament in Ol Kalou, David Kiaraho, is heating up with an unprecedented number of government-funded development projects being witnessed by residents of the constituency.

The Kenya Kwanza government has been rushing to implement infrastructure projects and dispatched senior government officials to drum up support for UDA candidate Samuel Muchina in what observers deemed one of the most aggressive state-backed campaigns in recent years.

Government officials engaged in campaigns

Cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries, government-allied governors and Members of Parliament have been camping in the constituency for the past few weeks, touring the villages and trading centres of the constituency, commissioning projects and making new development pledges.

The prominent visits have made the constituency a political tinderbox, with the ruling party hoping to stave off an emerging threat from DCP contender Sammy Kamau Ngotho.

Projects unveiled

The key projects introduced during the campaign period include the proposed Engineer–Ol Kalou–Nyahururu upgrading.

The government has also launched the upgrade of the 37 km Ithagani–Ngorika / Ngorika–Mbaruk / Ngorika–Kanyiriri roads in Nyandarua County.

The government has further scaled up the rehabilitation and tarmacking of roads in Ol Kalou town and some feeder roads in and between the farms and markets.

The Ministry of Energy has, at the same time, accelerated the Last Mile Electricity Connectivity Programme, providing electricity to hundreds of households, schools, health centres and small businesses off the national grid.

The traders have also been assured better working conditions after the modern Ol Kalou market was opened, which will offer them organised trading spaces, cold storage and better sanitation. The government has also announced that a new stadium is being built in a local area of Ol Kalou, where it will nurture sporting talent and will generate jobs for local young people.

The government has also revived the Nyahururu safari rail operation in a bid to woo voters into supporting their candidate of choice.

During the campaign trail, the government leaders have been encouraging the people to get a UDA member of parliament, arguing that it would help them to collaborate with the national government and speed up the implementation of the various development projects that are in progress.

The project’s timing faulted

But the timing of the development blitz has led to scathing attacks from opposition leaders and political commentators, who allege that the government is exploiting public funds for political purposes during an election. They say that a lot of projects were languishing for years and then suddenly started to have an urgency after the announcement of the by-election.

Both proponents and opponents of DCP candidate Sammy Kamau Ngotho say they support the infrastructure projects but that they shouldn’t be linked to election cycles or be used as a “carrot” for voting.

They believe in the principle that every taxpayer pays for the funding of government projects, and they should be carried out on a non-partisan basis throughout the country.

The high number of state machinery deployed from cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries, governors and legislators has also fuelled suspicions that the ruling coalition finds the Ol Kalou by-election political.

The constituency has turned into a battleground for Kenya Kwanza to recapture the electorate’s trust in the region, where there is rising political competition.

Not much time is left before polling day, and the by-election has become more than just a fight between Samuel Muchina and Sammy Kamau Ngotho.

It’s becoming a referendum on whether or not the visible government development can convert to electoral support or if voters will move past the last-minute projects and make their decisions based on their overall political view.