Kenyan senate impeach country’s deputy president Rigathi Gachagua while he’s hospitalized

The Kenyan Senate has voted to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, marking the first time a deputy president has been removed from office since the country’s 2010 constitutional reforms.

During a session on Thursday, October 17, the Senate found Gachagua guilty on five out of the 11 charges leveled against him. The charges included corruption, money laundering, insubordination, ethnic divisiveness, and undermining the government. The Senate needed to convict him on only one charge to secure his removal.

The 59-year-old deputy president’s impeachment follows a similar vote by the National Assembly last week, where the motion to remove him from office was overwhelmingly passed. Gachagua, who has consistently denied the accusations, was unable to testify in his defense after being hospitalized with severe chest pains. Despite his absence, the Senate proceeded with the vote.

The Senate session was thrown into turmoil earlier on Thursday when Gachagua’s lawyer, Paul Muite, requested a delay in the proceedings, citing his client’s serious medical condition.

“The sad reality is that the deputy president of the Republic of Kenya has been taken seriously ill,” Muite said, asking for a brief adjournment.

However, a motion to delay the hearing until Saturday was rejected by the Senate, prompting Gachagua’s legal team to walk out in protest.

Kenyan President William Ruto, who has had a strained relationship with Gachagua in recent months, has not reacted to the impeachment.