The Senate was on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, forced to adjourn after senators failed to turn up for the morning session.

Senate Deputy Speaker and Meru Senator Kathiru Murungi who presided over the morning session as temporary speaker, ordered the quorum bell to be rang for 10 minutes to achieve the quorum for commencement of the morning session.

However, the quorum could not be achieved, forcing him to adjourn the session.

The Senate of Kenya morning session has been adjourned due to lack of quorum pursuant to the Senate Standing Order 40 subsection 2. #SenateLive

— Senate of Kenya (@Senate_KE) October 15, 2024

Senate quorum

Article 121(1) of the Constitution provides that the quorum for the National Assembly shall be 50 members, or fifteen members, in the case of the Senate. Senators who turned up for the Tuesday morning session were less than 15.

This comes just a week after the National Assembly also adjourned over the same reasons.

The National Assembly on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, was forced to adjourn its morning session due to a lack of quorum.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss Shollei directed the Sergeant-at-Arms to ring the quorum bell for ten minutes.

Due to a lack of quorum, the National Assembly was adjourned until 2:30 pm.

Gachagua impeachment hearing

The Senate is set to commence the hearing of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment in plenary on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.

Kisii County Senator Richard Onyonka has since highlighted some of the key issues senators will be looking at while prosecuting DP Gachagua’s impeachment case.

Speaking on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, morning during a televised interview with one of the local TV stations, Onyonka stated that senators have since come to a conclusion that the expectation from the public is much higher.

As a result, Onyonka argued that the standard that the senate is going to uphold in DP Gachagua’s impeachment case hearing that kicks off tomorrow Wednesday, October 16, 2024, will be acceptable to Kenyans and believable.

“What I am happy about is that my colleagues have kind of come to the conclusion that the expectation from the public is much higher. Therefore, the standard that we are going to utilize or uphold has to be a standard that is acceptable to Kenyans and believable,” Onyonka stated.

The lawmaker further stated that the senators are waiting for all the evidence to be tabled since the Senate is the prosecuting arm.

Onyonka highlighted that the senators will look at all the evidence and the way it has been presented and look at the witnesses.

He went ahead to state that the senators will also be looking at whether due process was followed by the National Assembly in impeaching DP Gachagua.

Onyonka cited the impeachment case against Kericho Governor Erick Mutai that was terminated by the senate on Monday, October 14, 2024, as one that had not followed due process.