President William Ruto has been reluctant to sanction the impeachment motion against his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, but members of parliament from the Mount Kenya region were pushing him to allow them, it has emerged.

Though there is a wider push by powerful forces in government to remove the  DP the main aggression was Mt Kenya leaders who are angered by what they consider to be a condescending attitude by Gachagua who, they say, have fielded candidates against them.

They also argue that Gachagua’s constant references to Mt Kenya project him a as tribal leader, in a move that could ferment resentment against Central Kenya by the rest of the country.

On September 17, 48 MPs led by National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwah gathered in Nyahururu and denounced Gachagua in favour of Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki.

According to Kimilili MP Didmus Baraza who is spearheading  Gachagua’s removal onslaught, the reasons for the push to kick out the DP is among others violation of the Constitution and corruption.

The grounds for the Baraza motion as explained in the 40-page document include the DP’s demand for Sh10 billion from the president for delivering Mt Kenya votes in the last general election.

Reads the motion in parts, “He demanded to be paid Sh4,000 for each vote that Ruto got in Mt Kenya.”

Angered allies

According to a well-placed source, Gachagua’s action angered some of Ruto’s allies in the region who had been with Ruto long before he entered the fray. Gachagua is said to have argued that he had been denied government tender during Uhuru’s reign due to his association with Ruto.

 MPs from the region are said to have expressed their anger and frustrations over the manner in which he treats them, saying he has been hurling insults at them and bullying them. The president, according to sources, has called for a Parliamentary Group Meeting with all the Kenya Kwanza MPs whose agenda will be the motion which has been sponsored by Baraza.

“We do not know what is in store and what the boss wants to tell us but what I can confirm is that he has been unwilling to allow the ousting of his deputy. We have been asking him to allow us to proceed with the motion but it’s like he has pressure externally,” said the MP who hails from Mount Kenya region.

Before he travelled to the United States, President Ruto met some business people and clergy from Mt Kenya who prevailed upon him not to endorse the removal of his deputy. The group told the president that removing his deputy would create unnecessary tension in the region and create a wedge among the leaders. Baraza said yesterday that he will be filing the motion this week for Speaker Moses Wetang’ula to issue directions.

“The motion is with my legal team who are doing the final touches, when through I will present it to the Speaker for consideration,” Baraza told People daily.

Yesterday, Gachagua termed his planned impeachment motion “an act of subversion” saying he must finish his five-year term as law stipulates.

Plotting ouster

The DP who spoke at a church service in Kinoru, Meru County, asked those plotting his impeachment to allow him to end his 5-year term before President Ruto considers a possible replacement.

Gachagua claimed that having been elected on a joint ticket with President Ruto, his impeachment would amount to subverting the will of the people.

“As we do whatever we are doing in the political space it is my prayer that we should always respect the will of the people which is supreme. Elections were done. The President and I were elected on a joint ticket for 5 years and that is the will of the people,” he said.

The DP sensationally claimed that MPs were being offered Sh 5 million to append their signatures to the impeachment motion. Gachagua alleged that his adversaries attempted to bribe county Woman Representative Njeri Maina and Senator James Murango, whom he said declined the offer.

He added that such attempts would not deter his bid to fight for the Kenyans who voted him in office.

“Njeri was called and they tried to sell her fear by telling her to sign for my impeachment but she declined. She was told to take Sh5 million but refused. Senator James Murango was also offered cash but he declined,” he explained.

The DP asked Ruto to refrain the MPs from instigating the impeachment motion as it would not augur well with Kenyans.

Gachagua and his allies have accused the president of orchestrating his ouster in the background by pulling the strings of several MPs to push the motion in Parliament.

“I was elected by the people of Kenya, not by the president. Both the president and I were elected on one ticket and you chose Ruto because I was there. If Gachagua was not there, you would not have chosen him,” Gachagua said.

“If he’s tired of Mt Kenya votes, let him tell us. We took him as our own and voted for him earnestly. He should stop telling the MPs to kick us out of office,” he added.

In the past weeks, the DP has been touring Nairobi and Mt Kenya region, rallying.