- It has been more than a year since former vice president Rigathi Gachagua was removed from power through impeachment
- A motion to impeach Gachagua was tabled in the National Assembly on October 1, 2024, by Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse
- Looking back a year later, Mutuse says he is proud to have initiated Gachagua’s removal, pointing out that Gachagua was never fit to hold public office due to his behavior
Kibwezi West Member of Parliament Mwengi Mutuse says he is proud to initiate a motion to remove him from office Rigathi Gachagua last year.
Source: Twitter
The Member of Parliament submitted a motion to demand that Gachagua be removed from the Office of the Deputy President by way of suing him.
Why Mwengi Mutuse Suggested Gachagua be removed from office
On October 1, 2024, Mutuse filed a notice of motion, making many accusations against Gachagua, promising to provide evidence for each claim while asking for help from his fellow MPs.
The motion to remove him from power cited allegations of serious violations of the Constitution, inflammatory public statements, failure in his position as the President’s deputy William Rutothe acquisition of assets worth more than KSh 5.7 billion, and violations of local and international laws, including the Law on National Integration and Proportion.
A total of 291 MPs approved the move to remove Gachagua from office.
A vote was taken, and the Parliament voted to send Gachagua home. The matter was then dealt with by the Senate.
Does Mutuse regret contributing to removing Gachagua from power?
Speaking a year later, Mutuse says he does not regret presenting the argument against Gachagua.
He compared his argument with the efforts of the liberators of Kenya during the freedom struggle, and those who continued the struggle against the KANU dictatorship and one-party rule.
“I am very proud of what we did. It was work for this country. It is similar to what our founding fathers did to give us independence in 1963, to liberate our country from colonial powers. It is similar to what Raila and others who led the second liberation did to liberate our country from dictatorship and one-party rule,” said in an interview with NTV.
Mutuse noted that even after his removal from power, Gachagua has continued to participate in divisive politics, which to some extent formed the basis for his removal from power.
The MP said that the former vice president has not yet learned from his mistakes, hinting that if given the chance, he would remove him from power again and again.
The Member of Parliament, the only one elected in the 13th parliament with the Maendeleo Chap Chap ticket, said that Gachagua does not have any qualities required of a leader, implying that his stay in office as the second in command was anathema to Kenyans.
Mutuse claimed that many Kenyans now see reason in his mission to oppose Gachagua a year later.
That the former vice president has built his style of politics around ethnicity and ethnic identity.
“I think I have been proven. This Gachagua, even after leaving office, has continued to incite hatred and ethnic bias. Ethnicity has been the basis of his political mobilization,” he said.
What strategy did Mwengi Mutuse use to defend his point?
In other news, the MP narrated the difficult time he had at the hands of Gachgaua’s defense during the impeachment trial.
The most memorable thing is when he was interviewed by lawyer Elisha Ongoya.
During the conversation with Ongoya, Mutuse appeared to avoid the interview, prompting the lawyer to ask him, “Are you with us?”.
He answered quickly“I’m with us”, which is grammatically incorrect.
Recalling that moment a year later, Mutuse said he knew what he said, revealing that it was a strategy he used to defeat the Gachagua defense team.
Mutuse explained that his choice of words was guided by a legal teaching method known as “English for Construction”, which emphasizes conveying meaning rather than strict grammatical rules.
He noted that this approach ultimately served its purpose, playing a role in the success of Gachagua’s removal from power, given that the Senate supported the removal from power and opposed Gachagua’s dishonorable departure from office.
Did Rigathi Gachagua destroy his political future?
Political analyst Karen Mwangi looks back and says that Gachagua should have addressed his political ambitions.
According to him, it was obvious that with Ruto’s numbers in both houses of parliament, Gachagua had no chance of succeeding after being removed from power.
Speaking to TUKO.co.ke, Karen said the former deputy president had a chance to resign long before the impeachment was brought to the National Assembly.
According to him, people who have been removed from power in Kenya are not allowed to take elected or appointed positions, and that Gachagua’s reliance on the courts may disappoint him.
Gachagua, who has declared his interest in the presidency, said he has not yet used all legal means to oppose his removal from power, using them to keep his hopes alive.
But Karen noted that courts in Kenya have never dismissed completed charges, referring to the case of the former governor of Nairobi Mike Sonkowho was barred from running for Mombasa governorship in 2022.
“Historically, the courts have upheld valid impeachment decisions, with the recent High Court confirmation of Sonko’s impeachment serving as a clear example. Gachagua has already been impeached by the Senate, and under Section 75(3) of the Constitution, anyone impeached through such a process is barred from holding public office. Unless the court overturns the impeachment, the IEBC is legally barred from endorsing his candidacy,” he told TUKO.co.ke.
The analyst added that if Gachagua had resigned before the motion of his charges, he would have made himself popular with the Kenyan public, not forgetting his benefits as a former assistant to the president in the country.
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Source: TUKO.co.ke
