NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s Senate on Thursday briefly suspended an impeachment hearing for the vice president after he was hospitalized due to an illness, his lawyers said.
Vice President Rigathi Gachagua pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 11 impeachment charges, and he was expected to be cross-examined by House lawyers in the afternoon. The Senate will vote on the impeachment motion on Thursday evening.
Gachagua faces accusations of corruption, incitement to ethnic division and support for protests against the government during which demonstrators stormed the country’s parliament. It is the first time that a sitting vice president has been impeached in Kenya.
His lawyer, Paul Muite, said doctors told him the vice president was suffering from “intense chest pain” and needed “complete rest.”
The lawyers had cross-examined witnesses presented by parliament the previous day, including the lawmaker who filed the impeachment motion and the head of the anti-corruption bureau. Earlier Thursday, Gachagua’s legal team asked to have the affidavit of a key witness, an elected governor of the capital Nairobi, quashed after the governor failed to show up.
The case highlights the friction between Gachagua and President William Ruto – something Ruto once vowed to avoid following his troubled past relationship as deputy to Kenya’s previous president, Uhuru Kenyatta.
Gachagua has said he believes the impeachment process has Ruto’s blessing, and has asked lawmakers to make their decision “without intimidation and coercion.”
The tensions threaten to introduce more uncertainty for investors and others in East Africa’s commercial hub.
The Senate needs a two-thirds majority to approve the impeachment motion.
Under Kenya’s constitution, the dismissal is automatic if approved by both chambers, although Gachagua can challenge the action in court – something he has said he would do.
Ruto, who came to power claiming to represent Kenya’s poorest citizens, has been widely criticized for his efforts to raise taxes in an effort to find ways to repay debt. foreign creditors. But public opposition made him do it shake up his cabinet and withdraw certain proposals.
