UDA fires back at Gachagua over Magarini by-election claims
By Kenneth Mwenda, November 25, 2025The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) has dismissed former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s claims against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Vice Chairperson, Fahima Araphat Abdallah, calling them a misguided missile of pent-up vendetta.
Gachagua, through his Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), wrote to IEBC Chairperson Erastus Edung Ethekon on November 24, 2025, accusing Abdallah of interfering with the Magarini Constituency by-election, scheduled for 27 November 2025.
In his letter, he claimed that Abdallah had assumed roles outside her mandate and employed corrupt and covert methods to influence the election in favour of a preferred candidate.
The former deputy president claimed that Abdallah travelled to Magarini on November 21, 2025, where she intimidated and coerced electoral officials. According to Gachagua, she demanded a full list and contacts of all presiding officers in the constituency.
He also claimed that Abdallah met at a hotel in Malindi with Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro and IEBC Commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana, where a bribe was discussed to influence the by-election.
“Be informed, should it not be within your knowledge, that on Friday 21st November 2025, your Vice Chairperson, Fahima Araphat Abdallah, OGW, was in Magarini, where she bullied, intimidated and coerced the electoral officials manning the Magarini by-elections,” Gachagua stated.
He further claimed that after receiving a deposit of the agreed bribe from Governor Mung’aro on November 22, Abdallah handed over the officers’ list and full command of the electoral process to him. Electoral officials, he claimed, were then instructed to support the governor’s preferred candidate.
Gachagua described the conduct as shocking and unacceptable and warned that it raised doubts over the IEBC’s ability to manage the 2027 General Election. He demanded the immediate replacement of all presiding officers in Magarini and that Abdallah be restrained from participating in the by-election or any future elections.
He also called on the IEBC to investigate Abdallah’s conduct and ensure she steps down as vice chairperson and commissioner.
UDA rejects Gachagua’s attacks
In response, UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar Hassan said Gachagua’s letter was a personal attack filled with invective, designed to discredit a young woman in leadership. He said the party was underwhelmed by what he described as political fiction.
“Mr Gachagua’s personal attacks on Commissioner Fahima Araphat Abdallah raise immediate constitutional red flags,” Hassan said in a letter to the IEBC, also dated November 24, 2025.
He referred to Articles 91 (1)(f) and 91 (2) of the Constitution, which demand political parties respect human rights and gender equality and prohibit political advocacy grounded in hatred or intimidation.
Hassan criticised Gachagua for what he described as a history of condescending conduct, inflammatory statements, and hostility towards women in leadership. He called it ironic that someone with such a record now posed as a custodian of electoral integrity.
“The selection of electoral officials in Magarini or anywhere else in the Republic is governed strictly by law, institutional procedure, and the Commission’s independent constitutional mandate,” Hassan wrote.
“It is the height of tomfoolery for any person to expect the process to be conducted at the whims of an emotionally chaotic individual or the eccentric wishes of a perennial grumbler.”
He urged the IEBC to act carefully and in accordance with the law when handling Gachagua’s claims. He said the party expects other institutions of governance to also respond to Gachagua’s calls to violence whenever he senses defeat in a political contest.
Hassan concluded that the Commission should investigate how an individual, legally impeached and barred from holding public office, continues to operate with theatrical confidence, stressing that the integrity of democratic institutions demanded no less.