The Senate will hear the impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Wednesday and Thursday next week via the plenary way.[โฆ]CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLEโถ
The Senate made the decision on Wednesday morning, allowing all 47 Senators to hear the case against Gachagua and then table a report in the House.
The decision was arrived at after the Minority Leader in the Senate, Edwin Sifuna, opposed the motion to determine whether the Senate would utilise the Committee where 11 Senators would listen tothe motion against Gachagua.
Sifuna was called upon during a Senate sitting to second the motion tabled by Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot. While moving the motion, Cheruiyot stated, “This is uncharted territory that the Senate is being invited to conduct the impeachment hearing of a Deputy President. Much as this is constitutional, it is the first time this is happening. I want to urge members to agree with me that we elect 11 of our wisest to read on our behalf and make a decision.”
Sifuna while refusing to second the motion stated, โThis is a matter that is very unique and has elicited public attention. Therefore, given the mood of the house especially on the minority side, I respectfully decline to second that motion.โ
This left the Senate with the option but for all members to hear the impeachment motion against Gachagua. As a result, Speaker Amason Kingi directed that Gachagua file his responses by Monday at 5:00 pm.
Kingi also directed that the Senate hear the impeachment motion against DP Gachagua on Wednesday and Thursday, October 16 and October 17 next week.
“You will note that the Senate Majority Leader has moved a motion, the motion has however, failed to get a seconder, Standing Order 70 of the Senate SOs states that the question on any motion shall not be proposed unless it shall has been seconded and any motion that is not seconded shall be deemed to have been withdrawn and shall not be moved again in the same session,” asserted Kingi.
Before then, the Senate clerk will today send communications to Gachagua and the National Assembly on the plenary schedule as well as the dates to file responses. The clerk of the Senate has up to Tuesday evening to share all documents relating to the motion to all Senators.
On Tuesday, October 8, the National Assembly voted in favour of impeaching DP Gachagua, making him the first deputy President to face that fate under the 2010 Constitution. He now faces the opportunity of remaining in office if he can convince Senators that the charges against him are not substantiated.
In the Senate, unlike the National Assembly, the mover of the motion MP Mwengi Mutuse will have the opportunity to call witnesses and introduce more evidence against Gachagua. The country’s second in command can cross-examine the witnesses, and introduce evidence to impeach their testimony.
Gachagua will also be free to call any witnesses to either impeach or make his case against the 11 charges staring at him. In the Senate, when it comes to voting, Senators will vote on each and every charge separately, and should they find him guilty of even one, they will uphold the impeachment from the National Assembly.
If Gachagua is not happy with the decision made by the Senate, Gachagua can head to the courts, and this process my drag the matter along. With just three years left to the Kenya Kwanza administration, the political restructuring could force the President William Ruto to rethink his 2027 strategyโฆCLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES>>>
