KAKAMEGA, Kenya — A political showdown looms in Kakamega County ahead of a planned Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) rally led by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, following warnings from police about potential security risks.
Western Regional Police Commander Isaak Mahoud said authorities had not received formal notification of the gathering at Amalemba Grounds, noting that the only information he had about the event came through social media.
“There are allegations that tomorrow we will have a rally led by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna. His faction and team want to make a rally at Amalemba, that is what we got through social media,” Mahoud told journalists on Friday evening.
He added that while no official request for police assistance had been made, officers were prepared to provide security where necessary.
“Nobody has come to my office requesting for assistance, but we will assist them as much as we can. Wherever there is a problem, we will provide security. Ours is to maintain peace,” he said.
Mahoud warned that law enforcement would not tolerate any breach of the law and pledged to use all lawful means to maintain order.
“We will use all force to maintain peace. We will not accept lawlessness here. We cannot accept our country to go to the dogs,” he said.
The police commander claimed that intelligence suggested some rally participants might be armed.
“We have every kind of information. We are even told people who are coming from as far as Nairobi who are armed with rifles. That is what we have been told. That group who want to make a rally, they are armed, they said they don’t need the police,” he alleged.
Mahoud said he had sufficient personnel to manage the situation and could request reinforcements, including deployment by air.
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“I have enough police officers. I’ve not yet asked for reinforcement. If I ask, they can even be brought in a chopper,” he said.
Tensions escalated after a truck allied to the Linda Mwananchi faction, led by Sifuna, Babu Owino, James Orengo, and other leaders, was stoned while en route to Kakamega for the rally scheduled for Saturday.
According to videos shared by Sifuna, the truck was attacked at Kona Mbaya trading centre on Friday morning.
Despite the attack, Sifuna insisted the rally would proceed as planned, noting that he had formally notified police and government authorities, including Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, via WhatsApp.
“Since Murkomen remains on the Senate WhatsApp group as a former senator, I have shared the notice of the Kakamega rally both in the group and directly to his personal WhatsApp number, so he cannot later claim he was unaware of the event, as he did with the Kitengela rally,” Sifuna stated.
The current tensions follow last Sunday’s chaos at a Kitengela rally organised by the same faction.
CS Murkomen had claimed that security agencies were not notified in advance, contributing to disorder at the event.
Sifuna has since dismissed these remarks, maintaining that the police had been duly informed.
