Kenya to Set in Motion Impeachment Against Deputy President

(Bloomberg) - Kenya's National Assembly will on Tuesday receive an impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, a process that could potentially destabilize the East African economy barely recovered from months of anti-government protests.

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Gachagua, 59, allegedly violated the East African nation's constitution by making inciting and inflammatory pronouncements to stir ethnic hatred, according to the petition that will be filed by Mwengi Mutuse, a member of parliament. The motion also alleges that since coming to power two years ago, Gachagua has amassed a property portfolio valued at 5.2 billion shillings ($40.3 million) from suspected proceeds of corruption and money laundering.

The motion that outlines 10 grounds for impeachment further accuses the deputy of insubordination, undermining cabinet decisions and making attacks on civil servants including a judge and the nation's head of intelligence.

"Gachagua uses his constitutional power as deputy president solely to implement sectarian, parochial and personal interests that seek to profit him," the petition reads. "He operates like the famed Frankenstein monster straddling the entire public-sector landscape, seeking dominance and dishing out orders that he wants implemented. Anyone who stands in his path is an enemy."

Gachagua's supporters say the move is more aimed at forcing him out. The deputy president says the process is a witch-hunt and has denied any wrongdoing.

"When I came to office, I wasn't a poor man," he told journalists earlier this week. "I haven't gotten rich from the government and I don't need any more wealth. I am not corrupt, I was a businessman."

Weeks after he was sworn in, prosecutors withdrew a 7.3 billion-shilling corruption case against Gachagua saying investigations were incomplete.

Ethnic Hostilities

The motion is the latest sign of a deteriorating relationship between President William Ruto and Gachagua, which took a hard knock after thawing of ties with opposition leader Raila Odinga earlier this year. The tension could disrupt legislative processes, create uncertainty and weigh on economic growth.

To unseat the deputy president, two thirds of members of both the National Assembly and Senate will have to vote in favor of the removal. While the ruling coalition has just over half of the 347 members of parliament, some are expected to rally behind Gachagua, along a section of the opposition.

The ousting of Gachagua could reignite hostilities in Kenya's ethnicity-tinged politics, which in the past boiled over into election violence that killed about 1,200 people. Ruto, who's from the Kalenjin community, and Gachagua, an ethnic Kikuyu, won the disputed 2022 elections on a joint ticket, narrowly beating Odinga.

Ruto's rapprochement with Odinga, which has led to the appointment of four opposition leaders to the cabinet, was aimed at garnering wider support for the president amid street marches that left at least 60 people dead. However, it's ended up fracturing both the ruling coalition and the opposition.

If the motion is passed by both houses, the president should nominate a successor and lawmakers then need to hold a vote within 60 days.

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