Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua has claimed that Mathira Member of Parliament Eric Wamumbi exchanged messages with him before and after the Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election.
Speaking on Monday, July 20, 2026, Gachagua alleged that several allies of President William Ruto had been contacting him following the by-election, which saw the DCP candidate secure a landslide victory.
“I don’t know what will happen because hii watu ya Kasongo wananisumbua na masimu,” Gachagua said.
According to the former Deputy President, Wamumbi sent him a message before voting took place on Thursday, July 16, 2026.
Gachagua quoted the message he claimed to have received from the Mathira MP:
“Ooh, mimi nilikuwa mtu wako, ukanigeuka nikaenda kwa Ruto. Hata hapa Ol Kalou unadanganywa na kina Methu. Wamebadilisha hii uchaguzi. Instead of fighting candidate against candidate, amegeuza imekuwa Ruto.”
He further claimed Wamumbi predicted that Nyandarua Senator John Methu and his allies would lose the election because they had turned the contest into a referendum on President Ruto rather than a race between individual candidates.
“And therefore, Methu and co have lost it. So when you lose on Thursday, ukuje utafute William Ruto,” Gachagua quoted the alleged message.
Gachagua also claimed Wamumbi had expressed confidence that UDA candidate Samuel Muchina Nyagah would defeat the DCP-backed candidate.
“Mimi nilijua hii strategy ya kupigana na Ruto was it. Muchina is our son. There is no way Muhia and Methu could fight Muchina,” he alleged.
However, the Ol Kalou by-election results announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) showed that DCP candidate Sammy Kamau Ngotho won with 35,440 votes, while UDA candidate Samuel Muchina Nyagah garnered 5,450 votes.
The official results gave Ngotho a victory margin of 29,990 votes, marking DCP’s first parliamentary win.
At the time of publication, Eric Wamumbi had not publicly responded to Gachagua’s claims regarding the alleged messages.
