By Anne Soy, NAIROBI Kenya
Kenya's Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has been threatened with impeachment proceedings by lawmakers amid intense speculation that he has had a major fallout with President William Ruto.
The president's allies in
parliament have accused Gachagua of undermining the government, promoting
ethnically divisive politics, having a role in fuelling the deadly protests
that rocked the country in June, and of being involved in corruption.
The power struggle has led to
concerns of instability at the heart of government, at a time when Kenya is in
the throes of a deep economic and financial crisis.
Ruto chose Gachagua as his
running-mate in the 2022 election, when he defeated former Prime Minister Raila
Odinga in a bitterly contested election.
Gachagua comes from the
vote-rich Mount Kenya region, and helped marshal support for Ruto.
But with members of Odinga's
party joining the government after the youth-led protests that forced Ruto to
backdown from increasing taxes, the political dynamics have changed - and the
deputy president looks increasingly isolated.
Legislators say they are
preparing to table a motion in parliament, calling for impeachment proceedings
to be instituted against him.
“I have already appended my
signature to it,” said majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah.
Allies of the deputy president
have launched several attempts in the High Court to prevent the motion from
being tabled, but have failed.
Several legislators told local
media that the one-third threshold has been passed, with nearly 250 having
already backed the move to table the motion for debate.
“I was surprised that I was
number 242 to sign it and there was still a queue [waiting to sign],” said
legislator Didmus Barasa.
“It’s a foregone conclusion,
the DP [deputy president] asked for it,” added another legislator, Rahim
Dawood.
Gachagua has, however, struck
a defiant tone, saying he has the backing of voters in his native central Kenya
region.
“Two-hundred people cannot
overturn the will of the people,” he said.
For the motion to pass, it
would require the support at least two-thirds of members of the National
Assembly and Senate, excluding its nominated members.
Backers of the motion are
confident that it will sail through, especially as they can now also rely on
the votes of Odinga's party.
But Gachagua has made it clear
that he will not go down without a fight.
“The president can ask MPs to
stop. So, if it continues, he’s in it,” he told media outlets broadcasting to
people in his political base, Mount Kenya.
Ruto has in the past vowed not
to subject Gachagua to “political persecution”, similar to what he says he
experienced when he was deputy to his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta.
But the rift between Ruto and
Gachagua has been apparent in recent months.
The deputy president has been
conspicuously absent from seeing off his boss at the airport when he travels
abroad, and receiving him when he returns.
Interior Secretary Kithure
Kindiki, a law professor who is trusted by the president, appears to be taking
on some of the deputy president's responsibilities - something that also
happened when Ruto and Kenyatta fell out.
Like Gachagua, Kindiki comes
from Mount Kenya - the region which forms the largest voting block in Kenya.
Dozens of legislators have
rallied behind Kindiki as the region’s preferred “mouthpiece",
intensifying speculation that they are pushing for him to succeed Gachagua.
That has left the deputy
president largely isolated with only a handful of elected politicians backing
him.
In a further sign that he is
in political trouble, the police's Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI)
recently recommended charges against two MPs, a staff member and other close
allies of the deputy president, after accusing them of “planning, mobilising
and financing violent protests” that occurred in June.
Gachagua defended the accused,
denouncing the charges as an "act of aggression" and an “evil scheme”
to “soil” his name and lay the groundwork for his impeachment.
In parliament last week,
Kindiki - under whose ministry the DCI falls - pledged to remain neutral, but
made it clear that “high-level individuals” will be prosecuted.
"We are dealing with the
aftermath of the attempted overthrow of the constitution of Kenya by criminal
and dangerous people who almost burnt the parliament of Kenya. We have a job to
do," he said.
But many of the young people
who were at the forefront of the protests dismiss suggestions that Gachagua's
allies were behind it, and see the bid by lawmakers to oust him as an attempt
to deflect attention from bad governance.
They say that if the deputy
goes, the president must go too.
Ruto, who is expected to host
legislators from his party later this week, will be weighing the political
risks of moving against Gachagua, but some lawmakers say they do not want him
to wade into the debate - a tough ask.
For now, Gachagua's fate rests
with legislators, but one man might still extend him a renewed lease of
political life - the president.
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