Vice president of African state faces impeachment

Allies of the Kenyan head of state, William Ruto, have accused Rigathi Gachagua of corruption and undermining the government

Kenyan lawmakers have filed an impeachment petition against Vice President Rigathi Gachagua on charges of corruption, undermining the government, bullying public officers, and engaging in ethnically divisive politics.

The motion from allies of President William Ruto was tabled in the National Assembly on Tuesday. Member of Parliament Mwengi Mutuse, who introduced it, said 291 of his 349 colleagues had signed the document, far exceeding the one-third required to vote on Gachagua’s removal.

Parliamentary Speaker Moses Wetang’ula described it as a “special motion” that “presents an unprecedented constitutional moment” in Kenyan democracy. He said the lower chamber will host a public session on the impeachment process on Friday, and the vice president will be invited to parliament to respond to the charges on October 8.

Kenya’s government has been in disarray since June, following deadly protests over a cost-of-living crisis and a now-withdrawn finance bill that aimed to raise $2.7 billion in taxes.

President Ruto’s allies have accused his deputy, Gachagua, of inciting the anti-government unrest due to a rift between the two leaders. Gachagua has denied the allegations, claiming he has been sidelined by the president. The rift emerged when Ruto appointed members of opposition leader Raila Odinga’s party into the “national unity government” he formed in the aftermath of the anti-tax protests.

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Gachagua, comes from the Mount Kenya region, the African nation’s largest voting bloc, helped Ruto win the 2022 presidential election. The 59-year-old politician, who calls himself a “truthful man,” opposed former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s preferred successor, then-Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and supported Ruto, Kenya’s deputy president at the time.

However, he has reportedly angered some members of Ruto’s coalition by repeatedly comparing the government to a business, and suggesting that those who voted for the president had first claim on public sector jobs and projects.

“Gachagua has inexplicably amassed a humongous property portfolio... primarily from suspected proceeds of corruption and money laundering,” lawmaker Mwengi said while presenting the impeachment document to parliament on Tuesday.

According to AFP, the petition lists 11 grounds for impeaching the vice president, including claims that he illegally accumulated 5.2 billion shillings ($40 million) in a period of two years while receiving a $93,000 annual salary.

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If the motion passes, Gachagua will become the country’s first impeached deputy president since the revised 2010 constitution. Josephat Karanja, the then-vice president of Kenya, resigned from office in 1989 after facing accusations of plotting to destabilize the presidency and abusing power.

In an interview with Reuters, Macharia Munene, a professor at the United States International University in Nairobi, claimed Gachagua’s removal petition is an attempt by the Kenyan government to distract attention from its own failings.

“The best way to divert attention from these crises is to create a crisis in the name of having to fix the deputy president,” Munene said.

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