Kenyan MPs give Senate through pass in Gachagua ouster match

Kenya's senate will next week debate whether to dismiss Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, the senate speaker said on October 8, after the national assembly voted to impeach Gachagua.

Lawmakers voted by 281 to 44 late on October 8 to impeach Gachagua, with one abstention. That was far more than the two-thirds majority needed to carry the motion to the senate.

Senate speaker Amason Kingi said the senate would investigate the allegations on Wednesday and Thursday next week. If at least two-thirds of the senate vote to uphold the impeachment, Gachagua will be dismissed.

Gachagua has denied all 11 charges against him, which include enriching himself and stirring ethnic hatred. 

He called the impeachment process a "theatre of the absurd."

His rift with President William Ruto, whom he backed in a 2022 election, spilt into the open after deadly protests this year against proposed tax increases and the cost of living.

Ruto has not commented publicly on the impeachment proceedings.

Gachagua outraged many in Ruto's coalition for likening the government to a company and suggesting that those who voted for the coalition had first claim on public-sector jobs and development projects.

The push to impeach Gachagua has divided Kenyans, with some saying that parliament should focus on the economy instead of politics and others calling for both Ruto and his deputy to quit.

"They should both be removed. After two years there has been no positive effect. We have had more crises. They came as a package so they should leave as a package," said Melissa Kagondu, who sells beauty products.

Robert Shaw, a Nairobi-based analyst, told Reuters that the impeachment would add to concerns about Kenya's economic stability after protests in June and July.

"It is bound to get worse, if I was an investor, I would be literally be looking at how to consolidate my position ready for a storm," he said.

‘Search your conscience’

On Tuesday evening, Gachagua urged lawmakers to "search your conscience" before voting.

"If you search your conscience and listen to the issues that have been raised and you find that there are no grounds to impeach the deputy president of Kenya, please make the right decision," he said. 

Kimani Ichung'wah, parliament's majority leader, said the 59-year-old politician had "violated not one, but eight provisions of our constitution."

At one point during the proceedings, he led lawmakers in a chant saying "Rigathi must go", describing him as "a great danger to our nationhood, a great danger to the unity of our republic."

Gachagua proclaimed his innocence, offering a detailed denial of the allegations, which include amassing a large unexplained property portfolio, and promoting "ethnic balkanisation".

"I will fight to the end," he told a press conference on the eve of the impeachment proceedings.

The senate will now hear the charges and may appoint a special committee to investigate them, where Gachagua or his representative can respond to the allegations.

If at least two-thirds of the senate vote to uphold the impeachment, Gachagua will be dismissed.

Gachagua has filed a court petition to halt the proceedings, which were initiated by Ruto's coalition allies last week.

Prior to the vote, TIFA Research, a pollster, found that a narrow majority of 41 percent of Kenyans supported the impeachment against 38 percent who opposed it. Gachagua outraged many in Ruto’s coalition for likening the government to a company and suggesting that those who voted for the coalition had first claim on public sector jobs and development projects.

“I have done nothing wrong against the people of Kenya. I have worked hard. I have been very loyal to my boss, President William Ruto,” Gachagua said on October 7.

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