Members of Parliament depicted Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua as a dyed-in-the-wool tribalist who refused to outgrow a self-inflicted attitude that he was not elected to be a leader of Mt Kenya but as the second in command of a democratic nation that takes pride in its diversity.

They depicted him a polarizing leader full of primordial hubris persuaded that only those who voted for the Kenya Kwanza administration should benefit from government services. Parliament also portrayed Gachagua as man with an insatiable appetite for wealth using his high office and wide network in the business circles.

And he spares no one- not even his brother’s widow.

For a DP who has always taunted a huge Mt Kenya following—he wears the populace of the region as a badge of honour and lucrative bargaining tool – his numbers in Parliament quickly dissipated on his face as he sat forlornly to Speaker Moses Wetang’ula left yesterday confronting his accusers.

The DP was impeached in a historic vote yesterday on a proposed motion of his removal. A total of 281 MPs voted for his removal while 44 backed him and one abstained.

MPs broke into song and dance shortly after National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula made the announcement at 9.20pm.

Dramatic fall

The 59-year-old politician who rose to a DP after one term had dramatically fallen out with his boss, President William Ruto.

Gachagua faced 11 counts of impeachment revolving around gross violation of the Constitution, abuse of office and corruption.

And it took a combined force of Kenya Kwanza and Azimio battalions to crush the unbridled ego of a DP who rose to power on the hopes of the holloi polloi across the country but retreated to a tribal enclave from where he preached parochialism amidst accusations of grand corruption and money laundering.

His efforts to whip up the emotions of his Central Kenya base with claims of persecution seem to have failed him. Ruto’s key allies led the onslaught against Gachagua.

“Mr Speaker we are here to do what is right. And what is right is always not easy, it is not always popular. And what is right today, might not be popular especially for a person coming from Mt Kenya. That is why I support this motion,” said National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah.

“Behind the veneer of humility that you saw here and was apologising to Kenyans is a dark face of violence that is a great danger to the unity and cohesion of our nation,” said.

“Rigathi doesn’t believe in one indivisible nation. He believes in a selfish, sectarian and parochial politics. Today, I rise to do the correct thing, I rise to obey, uphold and defend our Constitution,” said Ichung’wah.

Added Ichung’wah: “The mountain is intact. We must end balkanization, divisive politics. For national unity and one indivisible and cohesive nation, Rigathi must go.

Leaders accused Gachagua of deploying his authority to deprive his brother’s widow off her inheritance. Gachagua is brother of the late Nyeri governor Nderitu Gachagua.

Holy quotes

Muslim women leaders quoted from the Holy Koran warning that those who deprive widows deserved punishment.

“We are not dealing with an ordinary matter, we are not dealing with an ordinary man. We are dealing with a black man with a very black heart,” said Ichungwah.

“He said that he said that power will be shared by two tribes. He was not referring to the power sharing agreement. On the that ground the DP is impeached,” said National Assembly Minority Leader Mohammed Junet.

“For Kenya to become cohesive Rigathi must go. For shareholding to end, Rigathi must go. For Kenya to prosper Rigathi must go, For Kenya to have peace, Rigathi must go.”

Gachagua’s fate now lies in the hands of the Senate the final trial chamber for his impeachment.

“He told us that they have inherited empty coffers and goes a head that to spend Sh145 million of public coffers. This is misuse of public resources.

They have been saying that kufa driver kufa makanga. But the motion of the driver is not in this house. It is wrong to say that people who didn’t support you will not receive services,” said Junet.

Mavoko MP Patrick Makau told the DP that he erred by addressing Monday’s press conference saying it was his undoing and he proved to Kenya that all these accusations that are being levelled against him are really true.

“Despite Article 10, the Deputy President who is supposed to hold the values of this nation by uniting Kenyans, by fighting against corruption, by fighting against tribalism, he is the one who has championed tribalism through and through,” added Makau.

In his defence, Gachagua tore into the conduct of President William Ruto saying he learnt from his boss the habit of bashing state officers.

He played video clips showing President Ruto publicly attacking former Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), George Kinoti and former Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai for being incompetent.

“I took the cue from the president, he taught me to call on incompetent public officers, and you MPs are not impeaching him over the same,” Gachagua told an attentive House.

Defending himself against allegations that he demeaned the Director National Intelligence Service (NIS), Gachagua said Noordin Haji failed in advising the government on the public feeling on the Finance Bill, 2024.

Proposed Bill

“I am persuaded that the National Intelligence Service ought to have known beforehand that the public was completely opposed to the Finance Bill and they ought to have briefed the President before the protests began. And this would have caused a change of tact by government regarding the proposed Bill and the protests which culminated in the loss of innocent lives and the destruction of property could have been avoided,” Gachagua explained.

He continued: “I have been accused of undermining devolution by allegedly holding meetings to fight alcohol. I’m sorry, Mr Speaker, if the House took it that I said the House is the theatre of the absurd. I was talking about this specific charge of undermining devolution by holding meetings to fight alcohol to be discussed in this House. That to me is what I thought at that moment, that would be theatre of the absurd. I did not attribute in any way by trying to demean this House that I sat for five years by calling it the theatre of the absurd.”

On forceful eviction, the DP said it was the position of the Kenya Kwanza administration that it would not happen ever again under President Ruto’s leadership.

“That was President Ruto talking the same language as his Deputy that brutal and forceful evictions have no place under this administration. You have seen a video of brutal eviction; you have seen young children crying tears,” he narrated.

He added, “The Deputy President is being accused of undermining his boss by doing what his boss said that we should never brutally evict the people of Kenya.”

He said his statements did not and cannot be misconstrued to undermine the President that people should not be evicted inhumanely and without adequate compensation.

On the issue of NIS failures, Gachagua said the nation has in the recent past witnessed unfortunate of several extra-judicial killings, abductions and disappearances.

“I verily believe that if the NIS had acted diligently, these incidences would not have been witnessed,” he remarked.
He said he and President Ruto have been calling out senior government officials when they fall short of expectations.