Kenya lawmakers vote to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua

Gachagua has been accused of corruption, insubordination, undermining the government and divisive politics.

Lawmakers in Kenya have voted to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua for abuse of office.

The impeachment motion on Tuesday accused the 59-year-old deputy to President William Ruto of corruption, insubordination, undermining the government and practising ethnically divisive politics, among a host of other charges.

“According to the results … of the motion that I’ve just declared, a total of 281 members being more than two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly have voted in support of the motion,” Parliament Speaker Moses Wetang’ula said.

There were 44 votes against and one abstention, according to Wetangula.

Kimani Ichung’wah, parliament’s majority leader, said the deputy president had “violated not one, but eight provisions of our constitution”.

Gachagua has denied all the charges.

On Tuesday evening, he 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 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 news conference on the eve of the impeachment proceedings.

The impeachment motion will now proceed to the upper house Senate and if approved there, 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.

The upper house Senate must sit within a week of receiving the impeachment and will then have 10 days to deal with the motion, including allowing Gachagua to cross-examine the evidence.

It will require the support of at least two-thirds of senators to pass.

The impeachment can however be appealed through the courts.

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

He backed Ruto in his 2022 election win and helped secure a large block of votes from the populous central Kenya region. But in recent months, Gachagua has spoken of being sidelined, amid widespread reports in local media that he has fallen out with Ruto as political alliances have shifted.

Ruto dismissed most of his cabinet and brought in members of the main opposition following nationwide protests against unpopular tax increases in June and July in which more than 50 people were killed.

While Ruto has not yet 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.