Kibwezi East MP Mwengi Mutuse has revealed that the National Assembly legal team used a time-wasting technique to gain the upper hand over former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua during his impeachment hearing in the Senate.

A year after Gachagua was overwhelmingly impeached by both houses, Mutuse, speaking during an interview on a local TV station on Friday, October 24, 2025, said that during the Senate hearing, the National Assembly legal team devised a strategy to outmanoeuvre Gachagua’s legal team.

He explained that his response, “Yes, I am with us,” which surprised many Kenyans after he was cornered by Gachagua’s lawyer, Elisha Ongoya, was not a moment of confusion, as some might have thought.

Instead, it was a deliberate tactic to waste time, as the House could deliberate on his statement. The response reportedly caused laughter in the Senate chamber and amused many Kenyans who were following the proceedings on television.

Mutuse confirmed that the strategy worked as intended, giving the National Assembly a tactical advantage during the hearing. He also defended the phrasing, explaining that it was correct by the rules of English construction, as sentences are valid as long as they convey meaning.

“There is what we call English by construction. You construct sentences as long as they have meaning. The question was ‘Are you with us?’ So I said, ‘Yes, I am with us.’

“It was a reply by construction, and remember from the beginning we had a strategy, and the strategy was to manage time, and the strategy worked, and that is why, Gachagua, in the end, we won our case, and he went home,” Mutuse stated.

Life after impeachment motion

He further reflected on the aftermath of the impeachment, noting that opposition from leaders in his region, led by Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, made him a marked man. Mutuse added that during the years of finance bill protests, his property in Makindu was vandalised as a result of the political tensions, but insisted that he is not intimidated.

Mutuse, while speaking three months after successfully moving to impeach Gachagua, stated that the state beefed up his security, among other benefits.