NAIROBI,Kenya, Jul 7- Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has accused the government and the ruling party of using the distribution of free LPG cylinders and government-branded mattresses to allegedly disenfranchise voters ahead of the July 16 Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election.
In a statement on Tuesday, Gachagua claimed reports from the constituency indicated that some residents were being asked to surrender their national identity cards in exchange for the subsidised cooking gas cylinders and mattresses.
He alleged the exercise was designed to prevent residents from participating in the upcoming by-election.
“This is a scheme to deny you the opportunity and right to vote on the by-elections of July 16, 2026. Please don’t surrender your identity card to anyone,” Gachagua said.
The former deputy president urged residents to accept any government assistance being offered but insisted they should retain their identity cards.
“Let the government and UDA campaigners give you the gas cylinder and a GoK mattress. Let the regime deliver even speed boats, transformers, bullet trains, water tanks, milk and potato coolers and all that has not been delivered to Ol Kalou since 1963. But do not give away your voting right,” he said.
He further praised residents for allegedly resisting attempts to influence their voting decisions through gifts and cash, urging them to “stay firm.”
The allegations come as the Ol Kalou by-election has emerged as a fierce political contest between the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and Gachagua’s Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), with senior government officials making frequent visits to campaign for the ruling party’s candidate.
However, former Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria defended the LPG distribution programme, describing it as a fulfillment of residents’ development priorities rather than a political exercise.
“The people of Ol Kalou are going home smiling because what they asked for is finally being delivered,” Kuria said after visiting a distribution exercise in Mirangine.
He said families were collecting subsidised LPG cylinders filled with cooking gas, arguing that the programme would improve livelihoods by reducing reliance on firewood.
“No more smoke-filled kitchens. No more cooking with firewood when there is a better option. This is real change that families can see and experience every day,” Kuria said, adding that residents had rejected criticism that the cylinders were substandard.
Gachagua’s latest claims add to a series of accusations he has levelled against the government over the conduct of the Ol Kalou campaigns.
Last week, he alleged state agencies had deployed security officers and hired goons to disrupt DCP rallies, claims that prompted a sharp response from Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.
Murkomen warned Gachagua against what he termed attempts to incite violence, saying the government would deal firmly with anyone involved in election-related unrest.
The Interior CS was responding to Gachagua’s earlier allegations that security operatives had been deployed to intimidate his supporters.
Those claims have not been independently verified, and the government has denied any plans to interfere with the electoral process.
The July 16 by-election is widely viewed as a crucial political test in the Mt Kenya region following Gachagua’s fallout with President William Ruto, with both UDA and DCP seeking to demonstrate their influence in the vote.
The Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election has attracted nine candidates, but the contest is widely expected to be a two-horse race between the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), which has fielded former MCA Sammy Kamau Ngotho, and the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA), whose candidate is Samuel Muchina Nyaga.
Other candidates in the race include Wakili Kiragu Wathuta and Isaac Ndirangu, among others.
