Ol Kalou on edge as over 1,000 police officers deploy for tomorrow’s tense by-election
The Mt Kenya Times 
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja
Security operation defended by police chiefs as necessary and orderly, but opposition leaders warn it risks intimidating voters days before the polls
By Hadassah Karangu
The National Police Service has deployed more than 1,000 officers, four water cannons and specialised tactical units to secure tomorrow’s Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election, a security operation that has become one of the most contested issues in the race itself.
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja confirmed the deployment during a joint briefing with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, describing it as standard procedure for a high-stakes contest rather than a response to any specific threat. “We have over 1,000 police officers deployed to ensure that the by-election is adequately covered,” Kanja said. He added that the National Police Service “shall remain steadfast during the by-election process, ensuring a safe and secure environment where the people of Ol Kalou have an opportunity to exercise their democratic rights in peace.”
The operation includes four platoons of General Service Unit officers, four platoons from the Anti-Stock Theft Unit and four water cannons on standby for any public order challenges. Each of the constituency’s 144 polling stations, spread across five wards, will have a minimum of two officers assigned to protect voting materials and support presiding officers within a 400-metre security perimeter. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has also deployed personnel to gather intelligence and pursue electoral offences, including allegations of voter bribery.
Kanja framed the scale of the deployment as reassurance rather than restriction. “Their work shall be to safeguard the voting materials, the voting process itself, while offering adequate security at each and every polling station, ensuring the electoral officials perform their duties well and unhindered,” he said, urging residents to turn out and vote without fear.
Not everyone reads the numbers the same way. The by-election, triggered by the death of MP David Njuguna Kiaraho on March 29, has narrowed into a tight contest between the United Democratic Alliance’s Samuel Nyagah and the Democracy for the Citizens Party’s Sammy Ngotho, out of nine candidates on the ballot. Political temperatures have been rising for weeks, and the security question has become entangled with a wider dispute over how the police have handled the run-up to polling day.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has been the most vocal critic, pressing security agencies to deploy only uniformed officers on election day. His concern follows the vandalism of a DCP campaign vehicle in Gilgil on July 11, an incident his allies allege involved plainclothes police officers, a claim that has not been independently verified. Gachagua has gone further, alleging that groups of hired goons have been mobilised in Ol Kalou and accommodated locally ahead of the vote, and accusing Kanja of failing to rein in rogue elements within the force. Jubilee deputy party leader and former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i echoed the unease, cautioning that the country risks a deeper political crisis if electoral security is mishandled.
The National Police Service has firmly rejected any suggestion that officers are colluding with criminal networks. Police spokesperson Michael Muchiri was blunt in a televised interview. “Absolutely not. Any police officer who is purportedly working with criminals, criminal goons, that is not a police officer. Police cannot, and police are not working with goons,” he said, adding that any officer implicated in misconduct would face investigation and prosecution.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has meanwhile signalled that the current deployment is part of a broader posture rather than an exceptional one-off. Speaking in Turkana County on Monday, he said security agencies would intensify operations against gangs and goons in the weeks ahead, with more officers assigned to public functions nationally. “I want to assure the people of Ol Kalou that the elections will be free and fair. If we need to deploy 100 police officers, we will do that,” he said, noting that roughly 10,000 newly trained officers are due to graduate within a month.
For many in Ol Kalou, the debate over troop numbers has become a proxy for a more familiar argument about trust. Supporters of the operation point to Kenya’s history of election-related unrest and argue that a visible, well-resourced police presence is precisely what prevents trouble rather than causing it. Critics counter that democracy depends on citizens feeling free rather than watched, and that a heavy security footprint can unsettle voters even when no threat materialises. Both readings can be true at once, which is part of why the argument has proven so difficult to settle.
The IEBC, for its part, has tried to keep the focus on process rather than politics. Commission chairperson Erastus Ethekon confirmed that preparations were complete, with officials trained and a public results portal ready to display constituency tallies in real time. Voting runs from 6am to 5pm, mobile phones are barred inside voting booths, and anyone caught photographing a ballot faces a fine of up to a million shillings or a three-year jail term. “In each of the polling stations, we’ve put the rules there, so we urge the voters and citizens of Ol Kalou to familiarise themselves with those rules,” Ethekon said.
Whatever the final tally on tomorrow, Ol Kalou has already become something more than a contest for one parliamentary seat. It is a test of whether Kenya’s security and electoral institutions can deliver a vote that both sides accept as fair, and whether a show of force, however well-intentioned, can coexist with a genuine sense of freedom at the ballot box. The country, and not only the constituency, will be watching how that balance is struck.
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