(Bloomberg) — Kenya’s National Assembly on Tuesday received an impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, a process that threatens William Ruto’s economic agenda which is already on the ropes after deadly protests.
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Gachagua, 59, allegedly violated the country’s constitution by making inciting and inflammatory pronouncements to stir ethnic hatred, according to the petition filed by lawmaker Mwengi Mutuse, a member of the ruling coalition. The motion also alleges that since coming to power two years ago, Gachagua has amassed a property portfolio valued at 5.2 billion shillings ($40.3 million) from suspected proceeds of corruption and money laundering.
The motion that outlines 11 grounds for impeachment further accuses the deputy of insubordination, undermining cabinet decisions and making attacks on civil servants including a judge and the nation’s head of intelligence. It’s signed by 291 lawmakers, Mutuse said. Gachagua has called the process a witch-hunt and denied any wrongdoing.
“Gachagua uses his constitutional power as deputy president solely to implement sectarian, parochial and personal interests that seek to profit him,” the petition reads.
Gachagua’s supporters say the move is aimed at forcing him out for standing up to President William Ruto. He was opposed to Ruto’s rapprochement with opposition leader Raila Odinga, which resulted in a so-called government of national unity.
“When I came to office, I wasn’t a poor man,” Gachagua told journalists earlier this week. “I haven’t gotten rich from the government and I don’t need any more wealth. I am not corrupt, I was a businessman.”
He made his money by supplying various goods to government agencies. Weeks after Gachagua was sworn in as deputy president in 2022, prosecutors withdrew a 7.3 billion-shilling corruption case against him that was filed in 2021, saying investigations were incomplete.
Ethnic Hostilities
The motion is the latest sign of the tensions between Ruto and Gachagua, and could disrupt legislative processes, create uncertainty and weigh on economic growth.
The ousting of Gachagua could reignite hostilities in Kenya’s ethnicity-tinged politics, which in the past boiled over into election violence that killed about 1,200 people. Ruto, who’s from the Kalenjin community, and Gachagua, an ethnic Kikuyu, won the disputed 2022 elections on a joint ticket, narrowly beating Odinga.
Ruto’s rapprochement with Odinga earlier this year, which included the appointment of four opposition leaders to the cabinet, was aimed at garnering wider support for the president amid street marches that left at least 60 people dead. However, it’s ended up fracturing both the ruling coalition and the opposition.
Given that an impeachment process can be quite drawn out in Kenya, “one can draw a clear line” between the ouster and the upcoming 2027 general election, according to Connor Vasey, a consultant at London-based advisory firm J.S. Held.
“Ruto has not achieved what he had hoped with the economy and has lost a key vote bloc,” Vasey said, referring to where Gachagua hails from. Falling out with his deputy may force Ruto to seek the backing of Odinga, Vasey said.
To unseat the deputy president, two thirds of members of both the National Assembly and Senate will have to vote in favor of the removal. While the ruling coalition has just over half of the 349 members of parliament, some are expected to rally behind Gachagua, along a section of the opposition.
If the motion is passed by both houses, the president should nominate a successor and lawmakers then need to hold a vote within 60 days.
(Updates with analyst comment in 12th paragraph and details throughout.)
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