NAIROBI, Oct 17 – Kenya’s Senate has voted to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, marking the first time in the nation’s history that a sitting deputy president has been removed from office through impeachment. The vote, held Thursday, saw Gachagua dismissed on five out of 11 charges, with 54 out of 67 senators supporting the motion on the charge of “gross violation of the constitution.”
The decision comes after the National Assembly voted last week to impeach Gachagua, who has been accused of disloyalty to President William Ruto and making provocative public statements. Tensions between Gachagua and the president’s allies have been escalating in recent months.
Gachagua was not present to defend himself before the Senate, as his lawyer Paul Muite explained that the deputy president had been hospitalized with severe chest pains. Despite requests to delay the proceedings, the Senate proceeded with the vote, leading Gachagua’s legal team to walk out in protest. According to Dr. Dan Gikonyo, who is treating Gachagua, he was admitted to a Nairobi hospital but is now in stable condition.
The impeachment has sparked division within the Senate, with some senators questioning the timing of the vote given Gachagua’s health condition. Senator John Methu suggested the process was politically motivated, while Senator Moses Otieno Kajwang defended the decision, saying, “We must drain the swamp.”
Gachagua, who had earlier dismissed the impeachment as politically driven, faces accusations of ethnic incitement and accumulating properties worth over $40 million during his tenure as deputy president, despite a significantly lower net worth before taking office. His legal team has disputed the allegations, calling them speculative and unsupported by evidence.
