Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Monday accused the government of deploying security forces to prevent him from accessing Narok Town, escalating political temperatures ahead of the November 27 Narok Town Ward by-election.
Gachagua, who was campaigning for Douglas Masikonde, the Democratic Change Party (DCP) candidate, claimed officers mounted roadblocks to stop his convoy from entering the town. He described the directives as evidence of “a cowardly and brutal regime,” alleging an attempt to frustrate opposition campaigns in the region.
He said he eventually entered Narok through informal paths after “villagers guided [him] through village paths unknown to the police,” insisting that supporters defied intimidation to welcome him in large numbers.
“The people, a people united, are stronger than all roadblocks, than all bullets, than all stones, than all teargas you have in store and high seas, and than any dictator in the world,” Gachagua said during his address to supporters.
The former deputy president framed the confrontation as a battle over democratic space, warning that state power cannot suppress public opinion ahead of the vote.
“The villagers triumphed and we have affirmed that the will of the people is supreme and the 27th November 2025 by-elections will spell this out clearly,” he said. “No amount of blood money, police brutality or police excessive force will cow or intimidate the people of the Republic of Kenya.”
He praised young people in Narok for “standing firm,” adding that Kenya “is not your ordinary African country turned into a monarch.”
Security agencies did not immediately respond to the allegations. The by-election has drawn national interest, with both government and opposition leaders intensifying efforts to sway the vote in a ward seen as a test of grassroots influence.
