NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 21 — Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua now says his imteded impeachment by a section of lawmakers in the governing party would not make it to Parliament without the blessings of President William Ruto.
In an apparent challenge to Ruto, whom he asked to “call his house to order”, Gachagua appeared to suggest that his woes had the blessings of President Ruto, even as he defended tough rhetoric against the UDA leader by his owns troops.
Gachagua made the satatement on Friday night, hours after raiding markets in Nairobi with a handful of elected leaders mounting an apparent difiance against City Hall’s decongestion plan which enjoys the support of President Ruto.
Speaking with Citizen TV’s Sam Gituku, Gachagua said it is only President Ruto who has the capacity to push the impeachment plan to the floor of the house.
“There is not motion of impeachment against the Deputy President that can find itself on the floor of the house unless the President gives a nod. Nobody else has the capacity to push for that motion apart from him,” said Gachagua.
Gachagua claimed secret night meetings in Nyahururu and Kitisuru, at the house of an unnamed Cabinet Secretary, presumably to discuss his removal from office.
Bribery claims
The DP alos claimed ongoing efforts to “bribe” lawmakers into supportimg his intended impeachment amid a resurgence in feud in the ruling UDA party.
“Meetings have been held in Nyahururu, meetings were also held in Kitisuru in the house of a CS, we know what was [being] discussed. We know the amount of money that exchanged hands. We know these things,” Gachagua said.
Asked how he would handle increasing opposition against him, Gachagua said he will speak out and deal with the outcome.
“I will no longer keep quiet. I started today at Marikiti Market, and you will see more of this; I will speak out,” he asserted.
Gachagua, whose nomination as Ruto’s running mate in 2022 sparked debate after it emerged an Electoral College favoured Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, accussed Ruto of renaging on his promise to protect his deputy.
“The President assured me that I wouldn’t face intimidation, as he did when he was Uhuru Kenyatta’s deputy. But today, what’s happening to me is worse than what he experienced.”
Ruto’s layalists have accussed Gachagua of backmailing then UDA presidential candidate to pick him as a running mate amid an onslaught from the rival Azimio camp despite Kindiki’s election by an Electoral College made up of top UDA leaders.
Source: capitalfm
