OL KALOU, Kenya – Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria has dismissed claims that residents in Ol Kalou were required to surrender their national identity cards in exchange for cash handouts ahead of the July 16 parliamentary by-election, insisting the exercise had nothing to do with voting manipulation.
Speaking during an outreach programme in the constituency, Gikaria said identity card details were only collected for accountability purposes after he received funds to distribute to residents in specific polling areas.
“There are people claiming I am taking IDs so that I can steal votes. During elections, do you vote using your ID? No. Voting is done using fingerprints,” Gikaria said. “Am I going to cut someone’s finger so that I vote for them? That is impossible. You must be physically present and use your own fingerprint.”
His remarks came after former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua accused leaders allied to the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) of asking residents to surrender their identity cards while receiving handouts ahead of the by-election.
In a statement, Gachagua urged residents not to give out their identity cards, alleging the exercise was intended to disenfranchise voters during the upcoming poll.
Gikaria rejected the claims, saying the identity card details were recorded purely to prove that funds meant for residents in Gathima and Nyakiami polling areas had reached the intended beneficiaries.
“The person who gave me the money wants to confirm whether I actually met the voters in those areas. That is why IDs were recorded,” he said.
The MP said the outreach attracted unexpectedly large crowds, forcing him to source additional funds after exhausting the amount he initially carried.
“Yesterday I came with Sh250,000, but the people were too many. I had to go back home and get more money. I ended up spending Sh1.2 million and I did not send anyone away,” Gikaria said.
He added that residents who were not served initially were attended to after more funds were secured.
To avoid congestion, Gikaria said the exercise had been reorganised, with different teams assigned to specific wards and separate days allocated to different groups of beneficiaries.
“We agreed that today we start with the youth and tomorrow we attend to women so that what happened yesterday does not happen again,” he said.
According to the MP, four legislators have been assigned different wards, each receiving resources to distribute within their designated areas.
The exchange comes as political campaigns intensify ahead of the Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election, with UDA and Gachagua’s Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) both mobilising support for their candidates.
The by-election was triggered by the death of Ol Kalou MP David Kiaraho, setting the stage for a high-stakes contest that has drawn heightened political activity from both the government and the opposition.