Nairobi — Kenya's National Assembly has impeached the country's deputy president over accusations of corruption and abuse of office. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to remove Rigathi Gachagua from office in the vote Tuesday night. The fate of the deputy president now rests in the hands of the Senate.
The process to consider removal of Kenya's deputy president from office moved to the Senate Wednesday after parliamentarians approved a motion to do so Tuesday night.
Ahead of the vote, embattled deputy president Rigathi Gachagua and his allies presented his defense to the National Assembly for more than 90 minutes.
But the lawmakers were not swayed, and 281 of them approved a motion to remove Gachagua from office. Forty-four others voted against the motion, and one abstained.
Gachagua was accused of acquiring properties through corrupt means, though he argued the assets belonged to his late brother. He is also accused of practicing ethnic politics and acting to undermine the government.
The impeachment comes after Gachagua's fell out with President William Ruto.
The deputy president has denied all the allegations against him, calling them outrageous and saying they are propaganda meant to tarnish his name.
Political commentator Martin Andati said the way in which Gachagua works with other politicians and the people cost him his job.
"His fate is sealed. He antagonized the MPs, he antagonized the Senate by talking badly about the chambers and the speakers, and generally, he is not a pro-people person. He has poor people management skills," he said.
Some members of parliament, like Robert Mbui, who is also deputy leader of the minority, were against the impeachment. He said the house should concentrate on public issues instead of debating one man.
"The cost of living has gone too high, people have no jobs, Mr. Speaker. Those are the things that this house should passionately deal with, but for a whole day, even the last two or three weeks to deal with one matter, I think we are losing direction. It's important that we deal with things that are affecting our people," he said.
In the past four months, Kenya has witnessed a wave of protests aimed at President Ruto's government over allegations of corruption by some politicians and government officers. Kenyans also protested high taxes and parliament's alleged failure to act independently from the president.
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Some politicians have accused the deputy president of helping to organize anti-government protests, an accusation Gachagua denies.
Kenyan political expert Harman Manyora said the parliament is setting a dangerous precedent that threatens the country's political future and ethnic cohesion.
"[It] should not surprise us. In the future, we can have governments fall in the manner in which governments come and go in parliamentary democracies like India, Israel, the UK, and Italy, which I doubt we can withstand. From a political front, this is also a country with a lot of flashpoints. It is an ethnically charged country, and a move like this has the potential of negatively impacting the country by causing division, and you can never know where it can lead us," said Manyora.
The debate and voting about Gachagua's conduct will continue next week. After that, some believe the issue may go to court, where he could seek legal help to either keep his job or clear his name of the allegations against him.
