Nairobi – The race was on Friday to replace Kenya’s deputy president after the historic impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua, just hours after he was taken to hospital suffering chest pains.
It was the latest twist in a fast-moving drama involving President William Ruto’s election running mate that has rattled the political scene in the East African country, generally regarded as a stable democracy in a turbulent region.
The upper house Senate pushed ahead with impeachment on Thursday – finding Gachagua guilty of five of the 11 charges against him – despite the absence of the embattled 59-year-old.
Gachagua failed to testify in his defence after being rushed to hospital in a Nairobi suburb, plunging the session into disarray.
The Senate rejected an appeal by Gachagua’s legal team to delay the hearings, prompting the lawyers to walk out in protest.
Kenyan newspapers led with the news Friday, with The Standard newspaper running an image of Gachagua with the headline “Fired”.
“The night of long knives that sealed Gachagua’s fate,” The Nation wrote on its website.
He is the first deputy president to be impeached since the process was introduced in Kenya’s revised 2010 constitution.
His downfall is the culmination of a bitter falling out with Ruto, who he helped win a closely fought election in 2022 by rallying support from the crucial Mount Kenya region.
The lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, had overwhelmingly also voted for impeachment in an October 8 vote.
The assembly was meeting on Friday for a session where Ruto’s choice for his new deputy was expected to be unveiled.
‘Gross violation’
Among the names of possible successors floated by the Kenyan media are Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki, Foreign Minister and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and county governors from the Mount Kenya area, Anne Waiguru and Irungu Kang’ata.
Gachagua, known also as “Riggy G”, has consistently denied all the charges and no criminal proceedings have been launched against him.
Gachagua was found guilty on charges of “gross violation” of the constitution, including threatening judges and practising ethnically divisive politics, but cleared of others including corruption and money-laundering.
He can however fight the impeachment in the courts – although previous attempts to halt the process in the run-up to the Senate vote all failed.
A powerful businessman from Kenya’s biggest tribe, the Kikuyu, Gachagua weathered previous corruption scandals to become deputy leader as Ruto’s running mate in the 2022 poll.
But in recent weeks, he has complained of being sidelined by the president, while also being accused of supporting youth-led anti-government protests that broke out in June.
Ruto has not given any public comment on the impeachment, but Gachagua has said the process could not have gone ahead without his boss’s blessing.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
