BREAKING: Multimillionaire Kenya Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua impeached

By Ed Malik, A | ed@ddnewsonline.com | posted November 15, 2024

Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was impeached following a historic Senate vote, marking the first time a deputy president has been removed from office under the country’s 2010 constitution.

Gachagua, who had served for two years, faced charges ranging from corruption and inciting ethnic violence to insubordination and undermining the government. The fallout between him and President William Ruto, who had once been close allies, contributed to the impeachment.

Gachagua rejected the charges, claiming they were politically motivated and linked to his strained relationship with the president. Despite his denials, the Senate found him guilty on five of the 11 charges he faced.

His ouster paves the way for the appointment of Kithure Kindiki, Kenya’s Interior Minister, as the new deputy president.

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The 59 years old multi-millionaire, who previously served as a member of parliament, was elected into office to serve alongside President Ruto in August 2022. The two defied the odds to win the election, but their relations have since sputtered, even as Ruto has warmed to opposition leader Raila Odinga, his main rival in the elections.

“Not guilty,” Gachagua said in response to each of the 11 charges against him as they were read by Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye on the first day of his upper house hearing on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Gachagua was expected to appear in the Senate as a witness but did not show up. His lawyers said he fell ill with “intense chest pains” and was taken to hospital. Despite his absence, senators voted to proceed with the impeachment hearing, forcing his lawyers to withdraw from the process.

At the end of the night, the senators found him guilty of five counts of “gross violation” of the constitution including practicing ethnically divisive politics and threatening judges. He was, however, cleared of six charges, including corruption.

Last week, the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, had voted overwhelmingly 282-44 to impeach the deputy president. The motion was then forwarded to the Senate, which required a two-thirds majority to remove Gachagua – something they secured during Thursday’s vote.

Gachagua, a multimillionaire from central Kenya, helped President Ruto secure critical votes from the region – where he wields significant influence among the Kikuyu, Kenya’s largest tribe to which the ousted vice president belongs. That support in turn helped Ruto win the national election two years ago.

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However, the two have since fallen out, with Gachagua complaining of being sidelined by the president and being kept in the dark about important events.

Gachagua has faced accusations from critics that he supported the youth-led antigovernment protests in June and July, which ended in the president withdrawing a controversial plan to raise taxes. This further exposed the rift between the two.

In June, Gachagua also blamed the director-general of the National Intelligence Service for not adequately briefing Ruto on the severity of the protests. After those comments, parliamentarians critical of Gachagua accused him of undermining the state security services, and therefore the president, which only increased tensions.

Gachagua pointed out that Ruto, too, had in 2022 criticised then-Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai, calling him incompetent, without facing any consequences.

“President William Ruto and I have been calling out senior government officials when they fall short of expectations. The director-general is no exception; he is not above the law and is accountable to the people of Kenya for his performance,” he said on October 8, before the National Assembly.

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After withdrawing the tax bill, Ruto also reshuffled his cabinet and appointed several allies of main opposition leader Odinga as ministers, a move seen as weakening Gachagua’s influence.

Kenyans have taken to social media platforms to express their views on the impeachment of the deputy president. Supporters and opponents of Gachagua clashed in public on October 4, with the process turning violent in some places.

Meanwhile, supporters from his home turf in the Mount Kenya region called for the impeachment of the president as well, saying they voted for them both and if the deputy president has committed crimes leading to his impeachment, then the president should be impeached for the same crimes.

“Gachagua’s impeachment is a good initiative but can they now extend it to the president and all other elected officials? Investigate the president’s major appointments of people from his community only, investigate members of parliament appointments of Constituency Development Funds (CDFs) committees. What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander,” said Erick Mwaura, a 32-year-old who works in a land valuation firm in Kilifi, Kenya, a part of the former deputy president’s home turf.

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Kenyans have been calling for the resignation and impeachment of President Ruto since the antigovernment protests of June and July where more than 50 people reportedly died. Some analysts of Kenyan contemporary politics see Gachagua’s impeachment as final nail in the coffin for the embattled president’s support from Kenyans.

An overwhelming 282 members of the National Assembly voted for Gachagua’s impeachment. In the Senate, a two-thirds majority of the 67 senators also endorsed the motion to remove him.

Under Kenya’s constitution, removal from office is automatic if approved by both chambers but Gachagua can challenge the impeachment in court – something he has said he will do.

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Gachagua’s lawyer Charles Kanjama has said on Thursday before the impeachment vots that the manner in which the process was fast-tracked would suggest a “choreographed move”.

“By end of day Friday, they [the Senate] might even have approved the president’s nominee,” he explained. “This means a process that should legally take 74 days would take only 24 hours.”

Legal experts say the prospects of quick judicial decision is bleak as it could take a court months or years to decide on Gachagua’s envisaged challenge of the impeachment, making it difficult to remove the person who will take over from him, even if the ousted vice president were to eventually win a legal battle.

NOTE; THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY AND MAY BE UPDATED.
Source: Agency reports.