Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei has urged the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to investigate and prosecute former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over remarks he says amount to ethnic profiling.
In a letter dated July 27, 2026, Cherargei asked the Commission to review comments Gachagua has made at rallies, in media interviews, and during press briefings. The senator alleged that the remarks link the Kalenjin community to criminality, insecurity, and organized violence.
“The statements have given rise to allegations of ethnic profiling and the association of members of the Kalenjin community with criminality, insecurity, and organized violence,” he wrote.
Cherargei grounded his request in Article 27 of the Constitution, which prohibits discrimination on ethnic grounds, and Article 33, which removes hate speech and ethnic incitement from free-speech protections. He also cited the National Cohesion and Integration Act, which criminalizes statements likely to stir up ethnic hatred.
The Koimburi Complaint
The complaint centers on a remark Gachagua allegedly made following the alleged abduction of MP George Koimburi. Cherargei attached the statement as a video recording and transcript.
Cherargei said Gachagua claimed that President William Ruto, the Interior Cabinet Secretary, and the Deputy Inspector General of Police, whom he identified as Kalenjin, had set up a special squad to target government critics.
The senator said Gachagua further alleged that the unit included 20 officers from the Nandi community and that it took orders directly from the Deputy Inspector General. These remain Gachagua’s alleged claims as characterized in Cherargei’s complaint, and have not been independently verified.
“Deepen Ethnic Suspicion,” Senator Argues
Cherargei argued that, whether or not the claims were accurate, presenting them in language that linked a particular community to such conduct was enough to deepen ethnic suspicion and entrench harmful stereotypes.
He said the remarks were not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern in which Gachagua revisited the unresolved tensions of the 2007/2008 post-election violence and repeatedly painted the community in a negative light.
The senator asked the Commission to retrieve the original recordings, review the context, and determine whether Gachagua had crossed any legal threshold before moving to “investigate and prosecute” the former Deputy President.
He framed the petition with the coming general election in mind, warning that Kenya’s history shows how quickly ethnically charged rhetoric can endanger peace around a vote.
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