Gachagua: IG Kanja plotting to disrupt Ol Kalou poll with deployment of 2,000 police

Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua has accused Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja of overseeing a security operation aimed at disrupting Thursday's Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election.

Gachagua alleged the deployment of more than 2,000 police officers is intended to influence the outcome of the vote.

In a letter addressed to the Inspector General on Wednesday, Gachagua claimed the National Police Service command had been compromised and alleged that security operations were being directed by senior government officials rather than the police leadership.

He questioned the rationale behind deploying what he described as an unprecedented number of officers to Ol Kalou, arguing that the constituency had remained largely peaceful throughout the campaign period.

According to Gachagua, any incidents reported during the campaigns had allegedly involved plain-clothes police officers, whom he accused of targeting DCP supporters.

"IG Kanja, you seem not to get it; the command of the national police Service has completely gone to Kipchumba Murkomen, Raymond Omollo and rogue politicians allied to William Ruto," he stated.

"The security challenge in Olkalou and across Kenya isn't too much about the goons but the plainclothes rogue police officers outside of your command."

The former Deputy President cited several incidents he claimed had gone unaddressed, including an alleged assault on DCP officials at a hotel in Ol Kalou on July 1, an alleged pepper spray attack on the party's campaign team on July 9, damage to a campaign sound vehicle on July 11, and what he described as an attempted assassination of East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) member Kanini Kega on July 13.

He further alleged that the officers deployed to Ol Kalou had been assigned roles beyond maintaining law and order.

"They have been specifically sent to disrupt the commencement of the voting in the morning, disrupt voting, intimidate and harass agents, disrupt counting and tallying of votes and ensure that the UDA candidate is announced the winner," Gachagua claimed.

The DCP leader also alleged that units drawn from the General Service Unit (GSU) and the Anti-Stock Theft Unit had been instructed to use force should unrest arise after the declaration of results.

"The contingent of the GSU officers and anti-stock theft platoons deployed by you have instructions to ensure that might there be public disorder after the will of the people is overturned, they should quell it with a brute force never witnessed in the history of Kenya," he stated.

Gachagua thus demanded that all police officers deployed for election security be in uniform, display their service numbers and use clearly marked police vehicles, while calling for the withdrawal of all plain-clothes officers from the constituency.

"The 2,000 Police Officers deployed must be uniformed, they must display their service numbers, they must not be hooded and they must use clearly marked police vehicles," he said.

He warned that should violence occur during the by-election, responsibility would rest with the police.

"With 2,000 police officers, there should be no violence unless it is caused by the officers themselves," he added.

Gachagua urged the Inspector General to ensure the National Police Service remains impartial during the poll and referenced Section 12 of the Election Offences Act, which prohibits the use of national security organs to influence electoral outcomes.

IG Kanja on Tuesday announced the deployment of over 1000 police officers to adequately cover the highly contested by-elections in Ol Kalou set for July 16.

In his remarks, Kanja assured Kenyans that the NPS has made necessary adjustments to ensure that the residents of Ol Kalou get to exercise their democratic right in a fair, peaceful and secure environment.

He affirmed that a minimum of 2 police personnel had been deployed to all 114 polling stations in Ol Kalou as per their standard deployment procedure to safeguard voting materials, the voting process and the general security of the stations.

Additionally, Kanja said that he has deployed four platoons of the GSU, Anti-stock theft officers and four water cannons in the region.