Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is suffering from intense chest pains, his lead counsel Paul Muite has told the Senate.
Gachagua on Thursday, October 17, 2024, failed to show up at the Senate as a witness, with his lawyers telling the senators that he had been taken ill.
Senate Speaker Amason Kingi was forced to suspend the Thursday afternoon sitting until 5 PM, when he expected the DP to take up the witness stand.
Gachagua skips session
However, DP Gachagua’s lawyers showed up at the Senate at 5 PM without him.
Muite told the senators that his client was admitted to Karen Hospital with intense chest pains.
He stated that he had managed to contact a team of doctors at the Karen hospital that are looking after DP Gachagua, but because of his condition, his lead lawyer was not able to speak to him directly.
“Mheshimiwa Speaker, through you, I would like to inform the honourable senators that I have been able to contact the team of doctors at Karen Hospital looking after the Deputy President.
“Because of his condition, I was not able to talk to him on the advise of his doctors, who said he must have complete rest for the time being. I was, however, informed by his doctors that he is currently suffering from intense chest pains. I did not want to inquire beyond that,” Lawyer Muite stated.
Gachagua fails to testify
Senate Speaker Amason Kingi on Thursday, October 17, 2024, called on the Deputy President’s legal team to present their witness, but he was not available.
Muite pleaded with the Senate to allow him some time to locate his client, who was set to testify in his impeachment case during the Thursday afternoon session.
“Honourable Speaker, we are waiting for the Deputy President, and my colleagues can stand in for me; let me make inquiries where he is,” SC Muite pleaded.
Moments later, he revealed that his client was hospitalised and that he would not make it to the senate for cross-examination.
Muite started by apologizing, stating that the DP has been going to the Senate punctually, before he broke the news of him being hospitalized.
“May start first and foremost by expressing apologies and regrets that the Deputy President is not here and, by not being here, the inconvenience and delay caused to Mheshimiwa Speaker and to honourable senators.
“The position, Mheshimiwa Speaker, is that during that period that I went to try and find out why he wasn’t here, because Mheshimiwa Speaker knows the Deputy President has been coming here absolutely punctually every day. The sad reality is that the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya has been taken very sick, and as I address Mr Speaker and this House, he is in the hospital,” SC Muite stated.
Muite had requested Speaker Kingi to give him more time to go and assess DP Gachagua’s situation and return to the Senate with feedback by 5 pm.
“Mheshimiwa Speaker, I have just received this information. My proposal is that you give me at least the rest of the day to go and have an assessment of his situation and maybe even come back here by 5pm,” Muite pleaded.