‘End of the road?’ – Kenya Senate begins hearing motion to oust deputy president

Rigathi Gachagua

Nairobi – A bid by Kenyan lawmakers to oust Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua moved swiftly to the Senate on Wednesday after he was impeached by the lower house of parliament in an unprecedented political drama that has gripped the nation.

The National Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday night to impeach Gachagua in a historic move that follows an acrimonious falling out with his boss President William Ruto.

“End of the road?” thundered the front-page headline of The Star newspaper on Wednesday, while The People Daily newspaper declared “The fall of a tribal chief.”

The impeachment motion accused the 59-year-old Gachagua of corruption, insubordination, undermining the government and practising ethnically divisive politics, among a host of other charges that he has all vociferously denied.

It was approved by 282 MPs in the 349-member National Assembly, more than the two-thirds required, after a sometimes heated 12-hour session.

Fast-tracking the next stage of the process, the upper house was in session on Wednesday to hear the charges against Gachagua, with Senate speaker Amason Jeffah Kingi telling lawmakers “we are expecting a heavy day”.

The Senate has 10 days to wrap up the proceedings and make a decision on the motion, which requires the support of at least two-thirds of senators to pass.

If approved, Gachagua would become the first deputy president to be removed from office in this way since impeachment was introduced in Kenya’s revised 2010 constitution.

‘Search your conscience’ 

“It is well,” Gachagua said in a short statement after the vote, alongside Bible verses calling for thanksgiving.

Armed with a 500-page dossier, the scandal-tainted politician had taken to the floor of the lower house during the sometimes heated 12-hour parliamentary session to reject the charges against him.

“Search your conscience… please make the right decision,” he urged lawmakers.

At a press conference on Monday, he had branded the motion as “outrageous” and “sheer propaganda”, calling it a plot to hound him out of office.

Gachagua, a powerful businessman from Kenya’s biggest tribe, the Kikuyu, weathered previous corruption scandals to become deputy leader as Ruto’s running mate in a closely fought election in August 2022.

But in recent weeks, he has complained of being sidelined by the president and had been accused of supporting youth-led anti-government protests that broke out in June.

Political tensions have been running high since the sometimes deadly demonstrations erupted over unpopular tax hikes, exposing divisions in the top echelons of power — with Gachagua admitting that the motion could not have gone ahead without Ruto’s blessing.

The feud echoes the public falling-out between then-president Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy Ruto before the 2022 election.

Several MPs allied with Gachagua were summoned by police last month, accused of funding the protests.

No formal charges have been lodged by prosecutors and no judicial inquiry has been opened against Gachagua.

But lawmakers gave 11 grounds for impeachment, including accusations that he amassed assets worth 5.2 billion shillings ($40 million) since the last election, despite an annual salary of just $93,000.

Gachagua says his wealth has come entirely through legitimate business deals and an inheritance from his late brother.

He has warned his removal would stir discontent among his supporters, and insisted on the eve of the vote that he would not resign.

“I will fight to the end,” he said on Monday.

Gachagua will continue to serve in his role until a decision by the Senate on his removal.

In 1989, then-vice president Josephat Karanja resigned from office when faced with a similar push for dismissal in parliament.

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Source: AFP

Picture: X/@EvansMiloo254

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