DNK International By Our Correspondent,Nakuru
Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Otara Arama has once again found himself at the centre of Kenya’s political storm after his increasingly public confrontation with DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua.
The development has turned the long serving legislator into one of the most talked about political figures in Nakuru county.
The latest clash erupted after Gachagua’s convoy was attacked and stones were thrown at several vehicles during his political tour of Nakuru Town West on August 14.
Gachagua publicly accused Arama of organising the people who attacked his convoy and alleged that the Jubilee legislator was working with President William Ruto’s administration to undermine the United Opposition.
Arama has denied involvement in the incident.
The confrontation has since taken another turn, with Arama objecting to Gachagua entering his political backyard without first informing him.
Arama has reportedly warned that if Gachagua wants to visit Nakuru West, he should notify him and observe certain conditions.
The remarks have transformed what might ordinarily have been a routine political tour into a highly personal contest over who commands political authority in the constituency.
The symbolism is significant.
Arama has represented Nakuru Town West since 2013, while Gachagua is seeking to expand the DCP’s influence across Nakuru ahead of the 2027 General Election.
The two politicians, who once served together in Parliament’s Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing when Gachagua was MP for Mathira, now occupy opposing political positions.
Parliamentary records seen by DNK-International from the 12th Parliament list both men as members of the same committee.
Arama is not a newcomer to political battles.
He was first elected MP for Nakuru Town West in the March 4, 2013 General Election on an ODM ticket.
He defeated his rivals in a constituency whose electorate is ethnically and politically diverse, and subsequently established himself as a permanent feature of Nakuru politics.
He successfully defended the seat in 2017 after switching from ODM to the Jubilee Party.
In the 2022 election, he again defied the political tide by retaining the constituency on a Jubilee ticket, winning 34,936 votes against UDA’s Daniel Kamau, who polled 29,045 according to the reported results.
His victory made him one of the few Nakuru MPs to survive the UDA wave that swept much of the county.
His political journey, however, began long before he entered Parliament.
The official parliamentary biography records that Arama attended Mwongori Primary School between 1975 and 1981 before proceeding to Nairobi Technical High School, where he studied from 1982 to 1984 and obtained a Kenya Certificate of Education.
After school, Arama built a career in accounting and business.
He worked as a clerical officer at the Ministry of Public Works from 1985 to 1987 and later as an accounts clerk at Ufundi Cooperative Sacco from 1987 to 1991.
He returned to the Ministry of Public Works as an accounts clerk between 1991 and 1992.
From 1994, he became managing director of Ortama Electrical Supplies and Scomic Computers Stationeries.
The parliamentary record lists those businesses alongside his political career.
Arama is reported to have been born in Borabu, in present-day Nyamira County, but he built his political career in Nakuru.
His ability to establish himself in a constituency outside his ancestral region has been one of the striking features of his political story.
He has raised questions about flooding around Lake Nakuru, education certificates withheld by schools over unpaid fees, affordable housing, land rights and the welfare of informal-sector workers.
In February 2024, for example, he questioned the Education Cabinet Secretary over schools withholding KCSE certificates from former students because of unpaid fees.
In June 2025, Arama went to Parliament over what he described as attempted grabbing of land occupied by jua kali artisans and micro-entrepreneurs in Nakuru.
He argued that the artisans had occupied and developed the land for decades and called for action to secure their tenure.
He has also advocated controversial or unconventional positions.
One of his better known campaigns was his call for the legalisation of traditional brew busaa, arguing that the existing prohibition did not reflect realities on the ground.
His position added to his reputation as a politician prepared to tackle politically sensitive subjects.
Arama’s political career has nevertheless has been accompanied by controversy.
He has faced accusations and legal battles over alleged assault, political confrontations and land-related matters.
In 2022, he was convicted by a lower court in an anti-corruption case and sentenced to fines with a default prison term.
However, that conviction did not stand.
In May 2023, the High Court allowed his appeal, quashed the conviction and set aside the sentence after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against him beyond reasonable doubt.
In 2022, a video emerged in which he confronted police officers whom he believed were operating outside their jurisdiction in Nakuru West.
His remarks — “Hapa ni Nakuru West; si Nakuru East”, became one of the clearest illustrations of his combative approach to constituency politics.
Another memorable statement came during his 2022 victory celebrations, when he spoke about the crowds visiting his home and credited his wife for hosting them.
“You need to see the number of people coming to my home for tea every Sunday,” he was quoted as saying, before adding that a man’s home becomes his wife’s home and thanking his wife for accommodating his political visitors.
His comments on bursaries have also attracted attention.
In 2024, a video of Arama reprimanding parents who had queued for bursaries triggered criticism online, with some viewers accusing him of being insensitive to needy families.
In 2025, he announced that he intended to defend his seat again on a Jubilee ticket in 2027, declaring that he remained firmly in the party.
The emergence of Gachagua’s DCP, however, presents a new challenge.
Several politicians in Nakuru have gravitated towards the former Deputy President’s political vehicle, creating a fresh contest for influence ahead of 2027.
Arama has remained associated with Jubilee, while openly commenting on the strength of DCP and UDA in neighbouring contests.
In July 2026, he argued that the Ol Kalou by-election was effectively a DCP-versus-UDA contest despite Jubilee fielding a candidate.
That political positioning helps explain the intensity of his latest disagreement with Gachagua.
Gachagua is attempting to build a national opposition coalition with a strong presence in the Rift Valley, while Arama is defending a political base he has spent more than a decade cultivating.
The dispute is therefore bigger than one politician objecting to another politician’s visit: it is a contest over territory, loyalty and the direction of Nakuru politics ahead of 2027.
For Arama, the message appears to be that Nakuru West is not an open political field where outside leaders can simply arrive and assume control.
For Gachagua, the DCP’s growing ambitions mean that no constituency can be treated as the private preserve of one politician.
The irony is that the two men have crossed paths before as colleagues in Parliament.
Today, they represent two very different sides of Kenya’s emerging political contest. Gachagua is attempting to build the DCP into a formidable national opposition force, while Arama is trying to protect his long established political base and position himself for another electoral battle.
Whether Arama’s influence in Nakuru West will survive the coming DCP wave remains one of the intriguing questions in Nakuru politics.
But his record already makes him one of the county’s most resilient political figures,a businessman turned politician who has transformed grassroots accessibility, blunt rhetoric and political survival into a career spanning more than a decade in Parliament.
And as the latest Gachagua-Arama confrontation shows, the battle for Nakuru West may be only beginning.
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[DNK-International @August 19, 2026]
