Kenya's Vice President Was Fired While In Hospital

Kenyan senators have voted to remove Vice President Rigathi Gachagua from office despite his failure to testify at his impeachment trial after his lawyer said he was taken to hospital.

On one of the most dramatic days in Kenya’s recent political history, Gachagua was due to appear in the Senate after lunch to defend himself, a day after pleading not guilty to 11 charges.

However, Gachagua, popularly known as Riggy G, failed to show up and his lawyer requested an adjournment as his client was suffering from chest pain and was being treated by doctors at Karen Hospital.

Senators opted to continue the trial without him, prompting the defense team to leave the chamber.

The senators’ refusal to postpone the proceedings until Saturday – as long as it was legally permitted – shows how determined they were to get rid of Gachagua just months after he fell out with President William Ruto.

Last week, an overwhelming majority of MPs in the National Assembly – the lower house of parliament – voted to impeach him, paving the way for his two-day trial in the Senate.

Gachagua, a wealthy businessman from the vote-rich central region of Mount Kenya who was at the house in the morning, has described the ouster as a “political lynching”.

On Thursday evening, the required two-thirds of the 67 senators voted to impeach him on charges including corruption, inciting ethnic divisions and undermining the government.

Senators voted overwhelmingly to convict him on the first count – enough to remove him from office.

This comes just two years after Ruto and Gachagua were jointly elected.

The vote ends months of fighting at the highest levels of government and consolidates Ruto’s grip on power.

The row came to a head in June when Gachagua, in an act seen as an undermining of the president, blamed the intelligence chief for failing to properly inform Ruto and the government about the scale of mass protests against unpopular tax increases.

In a huge blow to his authority, Ruto had just been forced to withdraw taxes. He dismissed his cabinet and brought in members of the opposition against his government.

Ruto has not commented on the ouster of his deputy.

One of Gachagua’s lawyers, Elisha Ongoya, said this at the beginning of the trial all accusations were “false, ridiculous or embarrassing”.

Before the vote, Gachagua had said he would challenge the decision if it passed.

A doctor was quoted by Reuters as saying the 59-year-old had gone to hospital with heart problems but was stable and undergoing tests.

Kenyan media have already reported on his possible replacements, naming four people: