The Senate has upheld the National Assembly’s impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and voted to remove him from office.
The outcome of the vote, taken late in the night, is the first time in Kenya that the Office of the Deputy President has ceased to hold office through a trial borne out of impeachment proceedings.
The 67 lawmakers of the Senate found the DP guilty on five grounds but absolved him on six charges.
A total of 54 Senators upheld the first count on gross violation of Articles 10 (2)(a), (b) and (c); 27 (4), 73 (1)(a) and (2)(b); 75 (1)(c), and 129 (2) of the Constitution and Article 147 (1), as read together with Article 131 (2)(c) and (d) of the Constitution. The vote also saw 13 of the lawmakers voted against.
The House absolved the Deputy President on the second count which was about gross violation of Articles 147 (1) and 152 (1) of the Constitution by undermining the President and the Cabinet and the effective discharge of the national government’s executive mandate. A total of 39 Senators voted against the allegations and 28 in support.
The lawmakers absolved the second in command of gross violations of Articles 6 (2), 10 (2)(a), 174, 186 (1), and 189 (1) and the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution, which he was accused of undermining Devolution. Forty-five senators voted to save the DP, 19 voted to indict him, and 3 abstained.
Count five was on gross violation of Article 160(1) of the Constitution on the Institutional and Decisional Independence of Judges. On this, 49 senators voted to send the Deputy President home, 16 voted to save him and 2 abstained.
“The Senate has resolved to remove from office Deputy President through impeachment and therefore he ceases to hold office,” ruled Speaker Amason Kingi after the final tally.
The vote came on the second day of the hearing of the impeachment trial and was characterized by drama after the Deputy President was taken ill soon after the end of the morning session.
The vote was taken without the Deputy President taking the witness stand, after he had taken ill, according to his legal team, led by the Senior Counsel Paul Muite.
Senior Counsel Muite told the House that the DP had been hospitalized at Karen Hospital after he was admitted for unknown ailments.
Senior Counsel Muite pleaded with the House to grant his client a five-day grace period so that he could appear on Tuesday, October 22 to defend himself against the 11 allegations.
However, when the matter was put to the vote, the House rejected the proposal after a brief debate, choosing instead to continue with the trial.
The National Assembly legal team called three witnesses: Hon Mwengi Mutuse, who was the mover of the motion in the National Assembly, Dr Andrew Mulwa, who had served as acting CEO of the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency and Mr Ahmed Abdi the deputy CEO of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
