Kenyan Vice President Rigathi Gachagua has been threatened with impeachment proceedings by lawmakers amid intense speculation that he has had a major falling out with President William Ruto.
The president’s allies in parliament have accused Gachagua of undermining the government, promoting ethnically divided politics, playing a role in fueling the deadly protests that rocked the country in June, and being involved in corruption.
The power struggle has raised concerns about instability at the heart of government, at a time when Kenya is in the grip of a deep economic and financial crisis.
Ruto chose Gachagua as his running mate in the 2022 elections, when he defeated former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in a hotly contested election.
Gachagua comes from the vote-rich region of Mount Kenya and helped build support for Ruto.
But as members of Odinga’s party have joined the government following the youth-led protests that forced Ruto to backtrack on tax hikes, the political dynamic has changed – and the vice president appears increasingly isolated.
Lawmakers say they are preparing to introduce a motion in parliament calling for impeachment proceedings against him.
“I have already signed it,” said majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah.
Allies of the vice president made several attempts at the Supreme Court to block the motion from being filed, but they failed.
Several lawmakers told local media that the one-third threshold has been crossed, with nearly 250 lawmakers already supporting the initiative to table the motion for debate.
“I was surprised that I was number 242 to sign it and there was still a line (waiting to sign),” said lawmaker Didmus Barasa.
“It is a done deal, the DP (vice president) asked for it,” added another lawmaker, Rahim Dawood.
Gachagua, however, has struck a defiant tone, saying he has the support of voters in his home region of central Kenya.
“Two hundred people cannot overthrow the will of the people,” he said.
Passing the motion would require the support of at least two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly and the Senate, excluding nominated members.
Supporters of the motion are confident that it will pass, especially because they can now also count on the votes of Odinga’s party.
But Gachagua has made it clear he won’t go down without a fight.
“The president can ask parliamentarians to stop. So if it continues like this, he is in,” he told media broadcasting to people in his political base, Mount Kenya.
Ruto has vowed in the past not to subject Gachagua to “political persecution” similar to what he says he experienced when he was deputy to his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta.
But the rift between Ruto and Gachagua has become apparent in recent months.
The vice president has been conspicuously absent from saying goodbye to his boss at the airport when he travels abroad and from receiving him when he returns.
Home Affairs Minister Kithure Kindiki, a law professor trusted by the president, appears to be taking on some of the vice president’s responsibilities – something that also happened when Ruto and Kenyatta fell out.
Like Gachagua, Kindiki comes from Mount Kenya – the region that forms the largest voting bloc in Kenya.
Dozens of lawmakers have lined up behind Kindiki as the region’s favorite “mouthpiece,” adding to speculation that they are pushing him to succeed Gachagua.
That has left the vice president largely isolated, with only a handful of elected politicians supporting him.
In a further sign that he is in political trouble, the police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) recently recommended charges against two lawmakers, a staffer and other close allies of the vice president, after accusing them of “planning , mobilizing and financing violent actions’. protests” that took place in June.
Gachagua defended the accused, denouncing the accusations as an “act of aggression” and an “evil plan” to “tarnish” his name and lay the ground for his impeachment.
Last week, Kindiki – under whose ministry the DCI falls – pledged in parliament to remain neutral, but made it clear that “high-level individuals” would be prosecuted.
“We are dealing with the aftermath of the attempted overthrow of the Constitution of Kenya by criminal and dangerous people who almost set the Parliament of Kenya on fire. We have work to do,” he said.
But many of the young people at the forefront of the protests reject suggestions that Gachagua’s allies were behind it, seeing lawmakers’ attempt to oust him as an attempt to divert attention from bad governance.
They say if the deputy goes, the president should go too.
Ruto, who is expected to host MPs from his party later this week, will weigh the political risks of moving against Gachagua, but some lawmakers say they do not want him to wade into the debate – a tough question.
For now, Gachagua’s fate rests with lawmakers, but one man could still grant him a new lease on life in politics: the president.
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