Kenya’s Rigathi Gachagua Impeachment trial begins

Deputy President Rigathi Gachaguahment – Courtesy photo

By Basillioh Rukanga

Kenya’s parliament has begun the final step to remove Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from office just two years after he was elected on a joint ticket with the president.

An overwhelming majority voted in the National Assembly last week to approve his impeachment, setting the stage for the two-day trial in the Senate that takes the final decision.

The deputy president faces 11 charges including corruption, inciting ethnic divisions and undermining government – all of which he denies.

The row follows his recent fallout with President William Ruto, who has remained silent about the matter.

Gachagua’s trial is being conducted before the full house of the Senate after it abandoned a process to set up an 11-member committee to investigate the charges.

The deputy president stood before the chamber as the charges were read out to him at the start of the trial – pleading not guilty to each one.

Analysts expect the deputy president’s impeachment to be upheld as the ruling party senators are likely to be backed by those from the main opposition as happened when the the lower house voted on the case.

deputy president – allegedly acquired through corrupt means.

He has explained, including during his trial at the National Assembly, that most of the properties in question were from his late brother’s estate.

The deputy president is a wealthy businessman from the vote-rich central Mount Kenya region.

In just five years, he rose from being a first-time MP to become the number two in Kenya’s leadership, after Ruto picked him as his running mate in the August 2022 election.

At the time, he was battling corruption allegations in court which were later dropped after he came the deputy president.

His impeachment trial has dominated the discussions of many Kenyans and the media in recent weeks.

Some see the high political drama that the matter has elicited as a distraction from the economic concerns of the majority of Kenyans struggling with the high cost of living.

In June disgruntled Kenyans went to the streets in deadly protests that erupted over unpopular tax hikes, and which exposed a deep rift between Ruto and Gachagua.

Gachagua now stands accused of undermining the work of the security agencies in the wake of remarks he made at the time blaming the intelligence agency.

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