Sawt Falasteen - Kenyan lawmarkers seek to impeach deputy president

The East African country's politics has in turmoil since March following deadly protests over a spiralling cost of living crisis and deeply unpopular tax hikes.

Gachagua is accused of undermining the government, being involved in corruption, insubordination, practising ethnically divisive politics among a slew of other charges.

Some 291 members of parliament appended their signatures to support the motion, well beyond the 117 minimum.

National Assembly speaker Moses Wetangula said the motion -- filed by Mutuse Eckomas Mwengi, a legislator from the ruling coalition -- met all the requisite constitutional threshold.

It lists 11 grounds for impeachment, including accusing Gachagua of amassing wealth estimated at 5.2 billion shillings ($40 million) within two years against an annual salary of $93,000.

"Gachagua has inexplicably amassed a humongous property portfolio... primarily from suspected proceeds of corruption and money laundering," Mwengi said, attaching Kenya's renowned Treetops hotel as evidence.

The hotel, where Britain's then Princess Elizabeth was staying when she became queen, reopened its doors in August after closing down during the Covid pandemic.

Gachagua, a businessman from the vote-rich Mt Kenya region, has denied the allegations as politically charged, warning his removal will stir discontent within his bastion.

The 59-year-old businessman weathered corruption scandals and links to the country's former authoritarian regime to win a closely fought election as President William Ruto's running mate in 2022.

But in recent weeks, he has complained of being sidelined by his boss amid accusations he supported anti-government by mostly Gen-Z Kenyans that began in mid-June.

The protests were sparked by proposed tax hikes in the 2024 finance bill, but snowballed into wider disillusionment at Ruto's top-down style of governance. More than 60 people were killed in those protests.

For the impeachment motion to pass, it would require the support of at least two-thirds of members of the National Assembly. A debate and vote are due for next Tuesday before it heads to the Senate.

If approved, Gachagua will become the first deputy president to be impeached in Kenya's history since the promulgation of the country's revised 2010 constitution.

In 1989, then vice-president Josephat Karanja resigned from office when faced with a similar vote in parliament.

I.Saadi--SF-PST