The National Assembly has approved a motion to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
In a vote taken on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, 281 of the Members of Parliament voted against Gachagua, effectively setting the ball rolling to the Senate.
Out of the 326 MPs who participated in the vote, 281 voted to impeach Gachagua, with only 44 voting to save the deputy president from the 11 charges he faced. There was one abstention.
“The result of the division of the motion are as follows: Abstentions-one, the NOs- 44, the Ayes- 281. So the ayes have it,” Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula declared.
The vote came after Gachagua presented himself to the National Assembly in the company of his lawyers to defend himself against the accusations levelled as grounds for his removal from office by way of impeachment.
During his address to Parliament which lasted about two hours, Gachagua challenged the accusations by playing file clips from different media stations to disprove the MPs who are the originators of his impeachment motion.
Gachagua pleaded with the MPs to exercise discretion and vote against the motion calling for his ouster, stating that none of the grounds presented by Kibwezi West MP Eckomas Mutuse held any water.
Gachagua’s fate
With the 281 MPs in support of the impeachment motion against Gachagua, the speaker of the National Assembly is expected to inform his Senate counterpart Amason Kingi of the House’s resolution within two days.
The Senate will have 10 days to investigate the 11 grounds for the impeachment of Gachagua either through an 11-member committee or the Senate plenary.
If less than 45 senators vote to impeach Gachagua, he survives. However, if 45 of the 67 senators vote against the second in command, then the seat is declared vacant.
Gachagua’s fate will be at the mercy of 67 senators and the Judiciary should Senate proceed with his impeachment.
With a battery of at least 20 lawyers led by senior counsel Paul Muite, Gachagua is set to challenge the outcome of his impeachment from the lower court right to the Supreme Court.
Ironically, one of the accusations levelled as a ground for the impeachment of Gachagua is threatening to remove High Court judge Esther Maina from office after she accused her of corruption for declaring his fortune as proceeds of crime.