Talks about Deputy President William Ruto impeachment are expected to gain momentum this week, with ANC and ODM planning a meeting on Tuesday.
This is the third time Ruto is being asked to resign or face impeachment.
Multiple sources said ANC bigwigs will be meeting their ODM counterparts to discuss the impeachment motion. But allies of Ruto have rubbished the plot.ANC deputy party leader Ayub Savula confirmed he will Tuesday meet the Minority Whip in the National Assembly and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed.
“I will be meeting Junet on Tuesday to discuss the numbers in the National Assembly,” Savula told the Star.
The Lugari MP said he had also discussed the matter with officials of other like-minded parties.
But ODM deputy party leader Wycliffe Oparanya said he was not aware of the planned meeting. He said his party was not part of the impeachment plan.
“That is a very weighty matter which cannot be decided by two people. It needs the entire leadership of the two parties,” Oparanya said.
But remarks by BBI secretariat co-chair Dennis Waweru and Junet over the weekend suggested there could be a wider plot to impeach Ruto.
Waweru, an ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta, said Ruto should make up his mind and decide whether to work with Uhuru or quit the government.
“The Deputy President must shape up or ship out. Why sabotage the work of the President if he does not want to work with the government?” Waweru asked.
Junet called on Ruto to resign or face impeachment.
“The Deputy President has been operating from the streets as if he has no office. We want him to resign or we impeach him. You cannot be in government and opposition at the same time. Choose one,” Junet said.
Allies of Ruto laughed off the impeachment calls, saying they have no basis and ANC would not marshal the numbers to remove the DP.
Lang’ata MP Nixon Korir wondered where ANC would get the numbers to successfully impeach the Deputy President.
“I think ANC is overly excited with what the President said recently. They don’t have the grounds and the numbers to impeach the Deputy President,” he told the Star.
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said those calling for the removal of Ruto “do not understand what impeachment is all about. Savula is a conman overworking to save himself from prosecution,” he said.
Savula, however, insisted that they have strong grounds to impeach the Deputy President.
“We will make the case that because his [Ruto’s] ambition is in competition with priorities set by the government he serves in, he is a danger to the stability of the nation by covertly dissenting and sabotaging the President’s agenda. He does that through incitement of the vulnerable poor,” Savula said.
Kibisu Kabatesi, the spokesman of ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi, said the capacity to see the motion through Parliament is not just a question of numbers as Tangatanga MPs would like Kenyans to believe.
“Revolutions and change have not been made by the madding crowd but by the strengths of commitment and belief by a few vanguards. Jesus Christ did not have a mob with him when he spread the gospel that has captured and drives millions faithful throughout the world for centuries now,” Kabatesi added.
He said if the Deputy President strongly disagrees with his boss, the only honourable thing is for him to do is to call it a day.
“For the undiscerning, what is going on in Kenya is an insurrection similar to the one engineered by Donald Trump in the USA. But unlike the USA where it is limited to intimidations, the instability wrought by this insurrection will lead to dismemberment of the country,” Kabatesi said.
ANC has only 14 MPs in the National Assembly. A member of the National Assembly requires to be supported by at least a third of all the members (117) to move a motion for the impeachment of the Deputy President.
At least two-thirds of the members – 233 of the 349 – are needed to approve the motion.
If approved, the motion will be introduced in the Senate, which will conduct a trial to ascertain the charges.
Two-thirds of the senators –45 of the 67- are needed to send the Deputy President home. ANC has three senators.
Savula, however, remains confident that ANC will raise numbers in the National Assembly and the Senate. “The Deputy President boasts of having more than 150 MPs in the National Assembly. We will see about that when the time comes.”
The Constitution says the Deputy President may be removed from office on the grounds of physical or mental incapacity to perform the functions of the office; or on impeachment on the grounds of a gross violation of the law.
The Deputy President may also be removed where there are serious reasons to believe that he/she has committed a crime under national or international law or for gross misconduct.
This is not the first time Ruto is being asked to resign or face impeachment.
In March last year, a group of ODM and Jubilee legislators asked the Deputy President to resign citing alleged corruption cases, dishonesty and unexplained wealth.
In October that year, Ruto was put on the defensive over polarising premature political campaigns and utterances against state agencies during a stormy Cabinet meeting. Some members asked him to resign.