POLITICS

Gachagua says it’s well after his impeachment motion was passed by Members of the National Assembly. 281 members voted in favour of his removal as the Deputy President of Kenya. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Tuesday night, reacted to the decision by many Members of the National Assembly to impeach him. Taking to his socials, the DP shared a message by quoting a biblical verse from 1st Thessalonians 5:18.  “Give thanks in all circumstances; this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  He went on to quote another one from the book of Jeremiah 30:19.  “From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honour, and they will not be disdained.” Further commenting it’s well. “It is well”  Rigathi Gachagua was impeached on Tuesday evening after 281 MPs voted in favour of the motion  for him to be impeached while 44 legislators opposed the motion with one lawmaker abstaining. The second in command was given two hours to defend himself before the parliament and during the process he termed the impeachment as unfair, claiming that he only followed his boss’ footsteps.  The impeachment motion is now set to be tabled before the Senate by Senate Speaker Amason Kingi. Gachagua becomes the first deputy president to be impeached by members of parliament since the introduction of the 2010 constitution.    

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was impeached by Members of Parliament with 281 members voting in favor of his impeachment. The impeachment came even after the DP defended himself on national Tv and later before the parliament. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment motion passes in the National Assembly after more than two-thirds of the Members of the Assembly voted yes to his impeachment. The impeachment was confirmed after 281 members voted to impeach the deputy president while only 44 saved the DP. One MP voted to abstain. Last week a public participation exercise was conducted related to the DP’s  impeachment and according to the report that was tabled in the National Assembly, 116,269 respondents supported Gachagua’s impeachment, while only 69,195 voted against it. In the motion, Gachagua was accused of unlawfully acquiring assets inconsistent with what he earns and violating several laws including the proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering. BREAKING: Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua impeached pic.twitter.com/Ac4v1kupRC — NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) October 8, 2024 During his defence in the parliament, the DP supplemented his defence by providing video evidence from past clips to give context to some of his past sentiments unlike on Monday when he solely read his defence during a televised press briefing. Gachagua now becomes the first deputy president to be impeached by the Members of Parliaments in Kenya. Now that the impeachment motion was passed, the verdict is set to move to the Senate which will conduct a trial on the charges the DP is accused of. If the Senate supports the motion too, Gachagua would become the first deputy president to be impeached since the new constitution was introduced in 2010.  

Security in Nyeri and Nairobi have been tightened ahead of the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment. The DP is expected to also appear before the parliament later today to defend himself from the charges he has been accused of. Security has been tightened up in Nyeri DP Gachagua’s home town ahead of his impeachment motion.  This comes after chaos and protests emerged in Nyeri last week during the public participation exercises.  Last week, chaos erupted in some parts of Nyeri, Gachagua’s home town, where residents took to the streets to disapprove of the motion against his impeachment. In Nairobi, Parliament Road has been closed, and police presence has been increased across the CBD and in and around Parliament Buildings.  The DP is expected to appear before the parliament today also so that he can defend himself from the charges he has been accused of  The charges against the Deputy President include claims of abuse of authority, serious violations of the constitution and laws, suspected involvement in corruption, and provocative utterances. Gachagua yesterday held a press conference to clear the air on the issue he has been accused of and according to him Kenyans needed to know his side of the story before he could present himself to the parliament.   

Blow for Rigathi Gachagua as the High Court declines to stop the tabling of his impeachment motion in the National Assembly. This is the second time that the High Court is declining to stop the motion from happening. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has been dealt another blow after the High Court  declined to issue interim orders to halt his impeachment motion. The petition was presented by Cleophas Malala, a former UDA secretary general, who had moved to court seeking orders to block the impeachment motion against Gachagua. Judge Bahati Mwamuye has however declined to grant interim orders stopping the impeachment proceedings, this being the second time that Malala has filed the petition. In Malala’s petition, he argued that the composition of both the Senate and the National Assembly violated constitutional gender rules, as outlined in the Kenyan Constitution. On Thursday last week, the High Court declined to issue orders stopping public participation in a motion tabled before the National Assembly.  The deputy president is expected to appear before the National Assembly to defend himself over the allegations leveled against him.