Rigathi Gachagua, 59 year old Kenyan Deputy President has been alleged for promoting ethnic divisions, subverting President William Ruto, his connections to the recent anti-government protests, encouraging discord within the political landscape, and ruining the unity of the administration. Rigathi Gachagua has been serving as the Deputy President since 2022. It is expected that he will have to fight the charges legally and a two-thirds majority of votes are needed in both the National Assembly and Senate for his removal.
If he encounters the legal battle, there is a chance for him to increase his influence in the Mt.Kenya region which contributed over 40% in the 2022 election. William Ruto, Kenyan President would introduce the Impending Impeachment Motion against Deputy President (DP) Rigathi Gachagua in the coming days. DCI – The Directorate of Criminal Investigations requested for the accusation on the Deputy President’s associates which includes two MPs from Nairobi who were charged for the tax rising which resulted in the protest of people in the streets.
Allegations against the DP have been happening since 1966 and almost all the 12 DPs have met with the public and political fallout. This event is considered a curse in Kenyan Political history.
“Very many deputy presidents are fought. It is an unfortunate situation. Given an opportunity, I would not allow my deputy presidents to be humiliated the way former deputy presidents have been humiliated and the way I have been humiliated” said President Ruto in an interview in April 2021.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s statement after the call of impeachment motion,
“The will of the people is supreme. Elections were held, and the president and I were elected on a joint ticket for five years. That is the will of the people. Let us all agree that the tenets of democracy say you must respect the will of the people because it is sovereign”.
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Meanwhile, the impending impeachment motion has been receiving its support from MPs and other important political personae of Kenyan politics including National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah. He was the one who confirmed that DP Rigathi Gachagua is facing an impeachment.
“It is true there is an impeachment against the Deputy President and as a member of parliament of Kikuyu I have already appended a signature to it. I will support that impeachment motion to stop a process where the government is being undermined and sabotaged from within. It is not tenable, it is not feasible that for another three years, it will be politics of Mount Kenya, politics of the lakeside, and politics of the coast region” said Kimani Ichung.
