The whims and memes from Ol Kalou

Ol Kalou’s vote sends a powerful message as memes and political debate take over. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

The Ol Kalou by-election contest of July 16, which turned out to be ridiculously one-sided, has left the government bruised and social media unusually excited, especially because of the ruling party’s extravagance in the run-up to the poll, which went unrewarded. There are all kinds of memes on social media inspired by the outcome, with funny captions that showcase a stark difference between what was expected (by the government) and what, actually, transpired. There are hardly any bigger contrasts in politics anywhere.

Residents of Ol Kalou received, in a show of unprecedented magnanimity from a government that is accused of doing little for them in years, boats, gas cylinders, avocado seeds, water pipes, and even GoK-branded mattresses in a whirlwind campaign that lasted about three months.

Cash handouts were commonplace, and road construction machinery popped up out of nowhere overnight, and promises were made in earnest. Anything to ensure that United Democratic Alliance’s (UDA) candidate Samuel Muchina Nyaga clinched the seat, rubberstamping the government’s solid stranglehold on the Mt Kenya region where, in the 2022 general elections and in the November 2025 Mbeere North by-elections, the party won with relative ease.

It was clear that to the ruling party, the seat mattered almost as much as life itself, and all possible investment towards securing it had to be made.

If anything, this contest was reminiscent of the New York mayoral election of November 2025: Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim immigrant, faced strong resistance from a powerful cabal of billionaire businessmen and even the president himself, depending on volunteers, and an electorate that believed in the underdog’s promises and subsequently won the election.

This Ol Kalou contest was a litmus test for UDA’s decline and DCP’s increased popularity in a region which, since 2022, has claimed neglect by the government, and whose de facto leader, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, was hounded out of office in what many in the region still believe was a witch-hunt.

Nyandarua Senator John Methu, a fierce critic of the government, joined hands with Kiambu Senator Karungo wa Thang’wa to drive the campaign, and all hell broke loose.

Both had been great proponents of the ruling party around 2022, but later fell out with it and have been using their clout, fueled by unbridled ambition, to call out atrocities committed by the regime and to present DCP as a potent alternative.

For Methu, who had publicly challenged President William Ruto in his presence on several unfulfilled promises during the funeral of former Ol Kalou MP David Njuguna Kiaraho, this most recent contest was a do-or-die.

The two young politicians concocted songs that vilified the government. They said prayers for their candidate, in which they condemned their opponents to failure. They chanted anti-government slogans. They encouraged the masses to embrace the sudden benevolence of the government but to rebel at the ballot. The masses listened.

After all the efforts by the government, with political pundits approximating an expenditure in excess of Sh1 billion weeks before the elections, the opposition candidate, Sammy Kamau Ngotho, won with 35,440 votes, more than six times his competitor’s, who garnered a paltry 5,450 votes. The voter turnout was 57%. Social media erupted.

After the results, Senator Methu wrote: “Those 5,000 votes you've seen in Ol Kalou were for Muchina, not you, Ruto. If it were you, it would have been zero!”

Alongside a video of women singing “Tunasonga na Muchina, tunasonga mbele” (we are moving ahead with Muchina, a corruption of the Catholic song “Inasonga mbele Injili”

(The gospel keeps moving forward), Someone wrote on X: “After Ol Kalou, I am never trusting murima baddies”.

A video showing a seemingly paralysed dog crawling along a terrace and sidling up to people eating in an outdoor setup, and then suddenly bouncing up to a perfect, healthy gait immediately. One of them passed it a drumstick, which was used as a viral meme, going alongside the words: “Ol Kalou People to Ruto before and After Elections.”

There are videos of people from Ol Kalou, interviewed by various local media, getting incensed over the government handouts, with an elderly man saying that anyone who was possibly swayed by the government’s tokens was a fool, and that the boats donated would work best if the voters were children.

“I cannot accept these handouts; these mattresses should be taken to the sick in hospitals who do not have anything to sleep on. Why should I pick one?” a woman said.

Yet many pocketed the thousands of shillings they were handed, gleefully, but silently chose to stick with the opposition candidate. If one were to merely look at the money being distributed and projecting a matching sway in opinion, then the government would have won the seat with a never-before-seen margin.

Goons frustrated both campaigns and voting, with violence experienced even on the actual poll day. Activists were hounded, rounded up and locked up by the police. The

electorate was unmoved. With only about a year ahead of the 2027 general election, and with the Mt Kenya region, vote-rich and in 2022 playing a prominent role in the election of the current government, the Ol Kalou by-election was a strong indicator of what could be expected in August next year.

Ol Kalou Constituency, established in 1997, is one of five constituencies in Nyandarua County. It's third and longest serving MP, David Kiaraho, passed away on Sunday,

March 29, 2026, while undergoing treatment at the Nairobi Hospital. He was about to complete his third term in office.

The amount of development (read handouts, mainly) that the constituency has experienced since this unfortunate occurrence has led to many sensationally claiming that for the government to consider a region for development, an elected leader must die.

This unfortunate view has inspired memes of all kinds, with some asking for an unorthodox “miracle” if that is to bring good tidings. UDA’s loss, after all that investment, has rattled the government. Its supporters and employees at different levels have come up to strongly refute any claims of weakness,

vehemently denying that the by-election has any bearing on the general elections of next year.

“Once an election is over, we must remember that this country belongs to all of us. The most important thing is to ensure that the lives of the people who vote for us improve,” a

Visibly unelated, President Ruto said in the wake of his party’s loss.

Prof Makau Mutua, Senior Advisor on Constitutional Affairs to the President of Kenya, wrote

on X:

“The outcome of the Ol Kalou by-election is completely irrelevant and insignificant to the 2027 elections. It’s a complete NOTHINGBURGER. Let’s not make a mountain out

of a molehill. The 2027 elections will not be decided in Mount Kenya. Take this to the nearest bank.” Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi warned that Ol Kalou could have been a statement that needs proper analysis.

“Yesterday's vote in Ol Kalou doesn't sugarcoat for President William Ruto the plain and transparent truth on the torturous road to 2027. It gives him a binary choice.

Continue listening to the effusive and praiseful lullabies by Kiambu politicians whose support is in single digits and not beyond immediate family members, stick with Prof Kithure Kindiki, who believes in the false narrative that he will get 40% of the Mt. Kenya vote and knows that a humiliating defeat is certain. Or act the political fox you always have been, pick a Luo or a Luhya running mate (preferably the latter) and hit the road running. The choices are clear. And President Ruto must smell the coffee… by force,” he

wrote on X.

Opposition politicians were, however, elated with the victory.

DCP Party leader Rigathi Gachagua wrote on X: “To the great people of Ol Kalou, thank you for giving our party, DCP, its first Member of the National Assembly. Thank you, my great people, for refusing to sell your birthright and for being wise enough not to fall for the deception of development projects. Thank you, a million times, for guarding your vote and for standing firm despite the actions of rogue police officers armed with guns and tear gas.” Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna said, “Hats off to the people of Ol Kalou. Everything was thrown at you: bribery, violence, intimidation, state power, but you stood firm.

Congratulations to Sammy Kamau and the entire DCP team for that resounding victory.”