Gachagua's bombshell on harassment of small-scale traders

DCP party leader Rigathi alleges police harassment of small-scale LPG traders and the unlawful seizure of more than 200,000 gas cylinders. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has levelled fresh allegations against the police, this time presenting damning evidence of how small-scale gas traders are being harassed.

Gachagua pointed the finger of blame at Deputy Inspector General of Police (Kenya Police Service) Eliud Lagat, saying he is the brains behind a clandestine police unit harassing traders.

In his address on Wednesday, the former DP claimed the existence of an ungazetted police station nicknamed ‘blacksite’ based at Hurlingham, Nairobi, overseen by Lagat.

This fully fledged police station, with an armoury, operates under the leadership of Robert Linyiru Gituma as the Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD).

The station, he alleged, has 25 officers of constable rank.

These officers, led by Cliff Mutiso, are the ones he claimed are responsible for harassment of small-scale gas traders across the country.

Mutiso and his platoon are said to be conducting inspections, yet this role lies with officers at Kawi House, the country’s energy headquarters.

He claimed this unit has conducted raids between June and October 2025 in Kajiado, Nairobi, Kiambu, and Machakos counties targeting small-scale traders.

“They took away with them over 200,000 gas cylinders. No single inventory was done, no police occurrence book (OB) was recorded and nobody was taken to court,” he claimed. “Where are these 200,000 cylinders?”

Gachagua referenced the Energy Act, 2019, saying the role of conducting such raids lies with the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). He further claimed that a senior official at EPRA is the one feeding information to these rogue police units on the location of their businesses to facilitate the raid.

Similar raids were also conducted in North Rift, Nyanza and Western regions. The gas cylinders were then stored at Kakamega Police Station.

He claimed that when the police wanted to have the case prosecuted, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is said to have rejected the charges on grounds that the raid was conducted without notice, contrary to the Energy Act.

“The above is just one of the cases of brutal and constant harassment, arbitrary and unlawful arrest and enforcement procedures against LPG traders,” he said.

Gachagua said small-scale traders have twice written to President William Ruto to air their grievances - in August 2025 and April 2026.

He alleged that the seized cylinders are being refurbished for new LPG enterprises owned by politicians.

“One of these firms is in Kitengela and Kenyans saw these cylinders during the by-election in Ol-Kalou, and your guess is as good as mine on who owns this enterprise,” he said.