The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) has strongly responded to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua after he claimed there were attempts on his life ahead of his planned campaign tour in Mbeere North.
In a sharply worded statement dated November 13, UDA Secretary-General Hassan Omar dismissed Gachagua’s allegations as false, politically motivated, and meant to incite public sympathy.
“Your desperate, diversionary offensive against the National Police Service and the IEBC exposes the predictable floundering of a political personality whose career is collapsing under the weight of a documented history of misdeeds,” Omar wrote.
The response came after Gachagua’s party, the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), petitioned Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, alleging that individuals linked to a local governor were plotting to disrupt his campaign. Gachagua further claimed that video threats had circulated online showing the alleged culprits.
However, UDA rubbished the claims, insisting that the accusations were unsubstantiated and exaggerated, and accused the former DP of creating a false sense of insecurity for political gain.
“The names you dropped in your letter, including those purportedly linked to Governor Cecily Mbarire and Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku, only exist in your imagination,” UDA’s letter stated.
The ruling party also accused Gachagua of engaging in divisive politics, claiming that he has a record of intimidation, incitement, and verbal aggression in previous political engagements.
UDA went further to allege that Gachagua had been involved in questionable financial dealings, including collecting money from a parliamentary aspirant under the guise of issuing a DCP nomination certificate — a claim the party said he must address “as a matter of financial accountability.”
In a striking rebuke, the party’s letter mocked the former DP’s safety concerns, saying:
“Contrary to your wild allegations and cowardly suspicions, the peace-loving people of Mbeere have no intentions of harming you, interfering with your anatomy, or detaining any part of it.”
Meanwhile, Gachagua has maintained that the threats against his life are real, urging police to act swiftly and accusing powerful individuals of attempting to silence him politically.
Separately, Chama Cha Kazi (CCK) party leader Moses Kuria also alleged that certain UDA operatives were plotting to pose as CCK members to disrupt Gachagua’s campaigns and extort him of KSh10 million.
The Mbeere North parliamentary by-election has now evolved into a high-stakes political showdown, viewed by analysts as a litmus test for President William Ruto’s influence in the Mt. Kenya region and for Gachagua’s political survival.