Narc-Kenya party leader Martha Karua has said Kenyans are on their own after the National Assembly voted overwhelmingly to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Tuesday, October 8, 2024.
In a statement on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, Karua called out the National Assembly for what she termed becoming a rubber stamp of the Executive, urging Kenyans to stand for what is right.
“We call upon all right-thinking Kenyans to rally together to stop feeding a monster that threatens our very existence. It is high time to recognize that we are on our own and we must stand united to defend our constitution and restore good governance and human dignity which the Ruto regime is destroying,” Karua said.
Gachagua not an angel
While acknowledging that Gachagua may not be an angel in all the charges levelled against him as grounds for his removal from office by way of impeachment, Karua observed that he was nonetheless entitled to a fair hearing and due process.
“Gachagua and some of those who administered mob justice to him yesterday were a happy lot during their honeymoon in power while berating President Uhuru Kenyatta and orchestrating a raid on his family farm.
“They then felt invincible. Gachagua’s circumstances today should be a reminder to each one of them and to all people in authority that power is transient and tomorrow it will be you. That is why we must invest in systems that work even for your worst enemy,” Karua added.
She took a swipe at the public participation exercise which was conducted between October 4-5, 2024, stating that the results announced in the National Assembly were not the representation of the actual mood on the ground.
“Rigathi Gachagua is no angel but like any citizen, he deserves due process not mob lynching. What we must all be painfully aware of is that participating or acquiescing to the violation of another person’s rights is laying the foundation of the violation of your own rights,” Karua noted.
Gachagua impeached
National Assembly minority party whip Millie Odhiambo on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, announced that 65 per cent of Kenyans supported the impeachment motion with only 33 per cent denouncing it.
A vote taken on the floor of the house would also indicate that the majority of the representatives of Kenyans at the constituency level were in support of the motion for Gachagua’s removal from office.
This is after 281 out of the 326 MPs who participated in the voting exercise voted to impeach Gachagua, with only 44 expressing their stand against the motion. There was one abstention.
