The Democratic for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader, Rigathi Gachagua, has alleged that there is a plan to disrupt and rig the upcoming Narok Town Ward by-election on Thursday, November 27.
In a letter directed to IEBC Chairperson Erastus Ethekon on Tuesday, November 25, Gachagua said that he had received adequate intelligence indicating that some police officers and goons had been mobilised to interfere with the electoral process.
Gachagua alleged that there is a deliberate plan for 'state-sponsored goons' to occupy polling stations in Narok to ensure that supporters of the DCP candidate, Douglas Masikonde, don't cast their votes.
Gachagua further claimed that state agents are plotting to intimidate DCP polling agents on election day, in an effort to rig the elections.
"We have further information that our chief agent and our candidate will be barred from accessing the Tallying Centre on the material day by goons and police in order to force the Returning Officer to declare the UDA candidate as the winner," Gachagua stated.
Gachagua has said that the commission, led by the chairman, should lay out security strategies to ensure that all parties involved in the elections are given equal and full access to polling stations and tallying centres.
Gachagua said that Ethekon should publicly declare that the commission will not allow any state-sponsored goon or police officer to compromise the credibility and the fairness of the elections.
If the chairman fails to do so, Gachagua warns that the reputation of the commission will suffer more damage, especially ahead of the 2027 General Elections.
Gachagua has assured that guaranteeing free and fair elections will be fundamental in preventing post-election violence.
"We strongly demand that you pronounce yourself that police and state-sponsored militia will not be allowed to force the Returning Officer to announce the UDA candidate as the winner," Gachagua said.
"Finally, Mr. Chairman, you are a Kenyan, and you have an adequate history of what electoral violence in Narok has always metamorphosed into: an unthinkable bloodshed and tribal clashes; take back to the 1992 tribal clashes in Narok where members of one community were targeted and stopped from voting," he added.
The sentiments come a day after IEBC Commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana announced plans to deploy plain-clothed police officers in the hotly contested areas during the by-elections.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mukhwana said that the growing political temperatures in some areas had prompted the Commission to make heavy deployments.
"The competitiveness of these elections could possibly trigger disagreements, and tempers will rise, and it has already risen," said Mukhwana.
