By Takudziridzwa Nyama
Kenyan senators voted on the impeachment motion on October 17, 2024, resulting in the removal of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from office within the Parliament buildings in Nairobi.
He is the first deputy president to be removed in this manner since the impeachment provision was introduced in Kenya’s revised 2010 Constitution.
Gachagua was found guilty in an impeachment trial of charges including corruption, insubordination, money laundering, undermining the government, practicing ethnically divisive politics, bullying public officers, and threatening a judge.
According to Al Jazeera reports, Gachagua has denied these allegations, labeling them as “outrageous” and “propaganda.”
However, he failed to appear in court, with his lawyer, Paul Muite, stating that the deputy president had been hospitalized due to intense chest pains and urging the Senate to pause proceedings for a few days.
Despite Gachagua’s absence from the proceedings due to illness, the Senate proceeded with the vote.
President William Ruto, who has distanced himself from Gachagua in recent months, has not commented on the proceedings.