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On the eve of October 8, the date set aside by the National Assembly to make a decision on his impeachment, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua spent over two hours on national television defending himself.

This, ahead of his appearance before lawmakers on an unmistakable mission to bring his political career to a screeching halt.

Article 75 of the Constitution outlines a rigorous code of conduct for State officers. As DP, Gachagua is the second senior-most State officer.

But ever since he embarked on his pursuit of unconcealed ambition to become the undisputed political leader of his Agikuyu community and the Mt Kenya region, Gachagua has engaged in some of the most absurd and incredibly nonsensical theatrics that put him at loggerheads with allies in his Kenya Kwanza coalition, the Constitution and other laws of Kenya.

A person removed from office for contravening Article 75 is permanently disqualified from holding any public office, a fate similar to what befell former Nairobi and Kiambu county governors Mike Sonko and Ferdinand Waititu respectively.

Gachagua faces a raft of charges, including allegations of gross economic crimes under various sections of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act.

He’s also accused of bullying State and public officers; open insubordination of the President; and commission of crimes contrary to sections 13 (1) (a) and 62 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act.

But it’s the charges of gross violation of Article 160 (1) of the Constitution; gross violation of articles 3 (1) and 148 (5) (a); gross violation of articles 10 (2) (a), (b) and (c); articles 27 (4), 73 (1) (a) and (2) (b); 75 (1) (c), and 129 (2); and articles 147 (1), as read with articles 131 (2) (c) and (d), that could render the DP permanently unfit to hold any public office.

For this reason, one expected the embattled DP to be painstakingly meticulous and duteous in countering his impeachment.

But as it turned out, Gachagua seemed to have stepped on too many toes in his quest to conquer Mt Kenya, if the sheer number of MPs who signed onto Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse’s impeachment motion was anything to go by, a significant number from his own political backyard.

The one-time MP for Mathira constituency had his days as second-in-command numbered. His fellow political vultures with whom he had been circling over Kenya’s political skies had accused him of smelling like a gazelle, and it was clear from the outset that they would take him for dinner on the appointed date.

It’s this pack of ruthless hyenas that Gachagua sought to convince that he doesn’t smell like a gazelle. But the more Gachagua squeaked as he headed to Parliament, the more he smelled like a gazelle, giving the hyenas even more appetite to partake in the revelry of his impeachment.

Gachagua’s strategies were counterproductive. Figures made public indicated that 65 percent of Kenyans were in support, while 33 percent were against. Low turnouts in his strongholds undermined his defence.

The decision to destroy rather than fill forms denied the DP his fair share of empirical sympathy. Expressive as Gachagua’s supporters may have been, protests couldn’t be documented numerically and presented as evidence of opposition to his impeachment.

In and out of Parliament, Gachagua sought to turn his impeachment into a vote of no confidence in President William Ruto as well. Known as the ‘Samson Option’, this strategy didn’t absolve Gachagua of wrongdoing. To the contrary, it confirmed he’s guilty as charged, only that he wanted to be decapitated alongside Ruto.

Politics in Kenya is a zero-sum game. The small number of sensible representatives are always outnumbered by the majority of disreputable cut-throats and transgressors of the moral, civil and criminal code.

As soon as his inevitable impeachment is confirmed by the Senate, Rigathi Gachagua would do a better job reading Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.
— The writer is the Executive Director of the Kenya National Civil Society Centre; [email protected]