Philip Aroko, who unsuccessfully contested for the Kasipul Kabondo parliamentary seat in the recently concluded by-elections, has denied claims of being behind the attack on Homa Bay Town Member of Parliament Peter Kaluma at Agoro Sare during the voting exercise.

While speaking on Obinna Show Live on Monday, December 1, 2025, he dismissed the remarks made by Kaluma, who spoke after being attacked and accused him of inciting the goons to beat him up, saying that in fact he is the one who provided cover to him to prevent him from being injured by the rowdy youths, who even managed to make their way out with Kaluma’s bodyguard’s firearm.

With him being one of the candidates in the race, Aroko stated that he had been allowed by the Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission (IEBC) to move around the voting areas to witness how the voting exercise was faring, and when he reached Agoro Sare where Kaluma was acting as an agent and observer for their ODM party candidate Boyd Were, who had Agoro Sare as his polling station,

After greeting him and urging him to make sure that there was no foul play in the exercise, a crowd came from behind, accusing him of engaging in electoral malpractice.

 After seeing the commotion, he decided to take him aside to prevent the confrontation from becoming ugly and tried to shield him from the rowdy youths who were angry at him and wanted to harm him.

After trying to stop them, his efforts were futile, and he gave up, overwhelmed, saying he never knew what happened afterwards.

He also dismissed claims that he was hit by a stone, saying that from what he saw, the youths who had attacked him had no rocks, and if he was hit, then it could have been a person from outside the compound.

He also denied claims levied against him that he stole Kaluma’s gun during the fracas, dismissing it as a political statement.

“If you look at the video, you could see me protecting Kaluma. I was the one holding him; I was moving him away from the chaos. I was trying to guard him, but people were very charged. There were so many people, but they were not my people. I was just moving him away, but I was overwhelmed, and people pounced on him. I don’t know what happened afterwards,” Aroko said

“I heard him saying that a gun was taken from him and handed to him; those are political statements,” he added.

He has also distanced himself from the incident, saying that even the people who attacked Kaluma are not known to him and were not part of his entourage, which he was moving with across the constituency to see how voting was faring.

Kaluma attack incident

This comes after Kaluma was badly attacked, leaving him with clothes soiled with blood and his gun taken away. The Homa Bay Police Commander later on came out to state that the gun had been found and that they had it, ready to hand over the gun to the owner, saying that the ammunition had not been altered in any way and the bullets were all present.

Aroko was recently defeated by Boyd Were, who scooped 16,819 votes, with Philip Aroko coming second with 8,476 votes.