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Voters queue at Ol Kalou Comprehensive School polling station during the Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election on July 16, 2026. [David Gichuru, Standard]
Watch the news out of Ol Kalou, then watch the news out of Kampala, Dar es Salaam, Lusaka or Harare from the last five years, and try to spot the difference. A gas cylinder handed out with a smile in Nyandarua County is first cousin to a "GoK" branded mattress in Malava, which is first cousin to an internet blackout in Kampala, which is first cousin to a disqualified candidate in Dodoma. Different props, same play. Elections rarely go wrong in ways nobody saw coming. They go wrong in ways we all watched happen in slow motion.
Ol Kalou MP David Njuguna Kiaraho died in March 2026; a by-election was called for July 16; and Ol Kalou suddenly discovered it had needs. The Gilgil–Nyahururu railway, dormant for four decades, relaunched last month. Roads got graders. Title deeds appeared. Then came the goodies: Gas cylinders ward by ward, "GoK" branded mattresses, boreholes, even boats with Nyandarua Senator Joe Nyutu saying he'd lost count of the Principal Secretaries camped in the constituency "giving out goodies."
Mavoko MP Patrick Makau alleged some households were handed cash and gas cylinders and then asked to surrender their national ID cards. Rigathi Gachagua, whose party is contesting the seat, took the cynical high road, telling residents to take everything on offer "the gas cylinder... even speedboats" and vote with their conscience anyway. The Opposition called it a "coordinated government-wide scheme." The IEBC threatened to postpone the poll over code-of-conduct breaches, then let it proceed.
