Gachagua to come face to face with accusers in Senate

 

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua requires the support of at least 23 senators to save his job, which now hangs on a thin thread.

The DP lost round one of the impeachment onslaught in the National Assembly after 281 members voted to send him home.

A decision to impeach the deputy president requires the support of 233 members, numbers the anti-Gachagua forces easily marshalled.

The motion sponsored by Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse is now before the Senate, which has set the ball rolling.

Speaker Amason Kingi said the precedent-setting motion would be investigated in the plenary next Wednesday and Thursday.

“This is yet another opportunity for the Senate to demonstrate its fidelity to the Constitution and live up to its reputation,” the speaker said.

One of the days would be for Mutuse to move the motion, another for Gachagua to submit his defense, and for the vote. At the Senate, Gachagua will come face to face with some of the witnesses the motion mover has lined up.

They include Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau and ex-Kemsa CEO Andrew Mulwa.

The DP’s lawyers are expected to engage them on the affidavits they have signed in favour of the motion.

In the affidavits, the officers claim the DP meddled in tenders, defied Cabinet directives and incited citizens against lawful county directives.

A proposal to set up a committee of 11 members to hear the matter was shot down, escalating the speed of the hearing.

Time appears to be of the essence to impeachment plotters, as the committee is usually granted up to 10 days to probe impeachment motions.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna declined to second the proposal to set up a committee, putting the 67 senators at the centre of the duel.

Gachagua thus faces an uphill task, political watchers say, pointing out that the trial would be about the numbers, more than the threshold of the charges.

“It will take a great effort of persuasion, theatrics and near-miracles to try and beat the government at marshalling senators against him,” political analyst Javas Bigambo said.

For the pundit, the DP’s reasons and avenues for undoing the motion are way fewer than the factors fuelling his removal.

“It will be a bit difficult for him to persuade senators to vote against factors such as credibility of evidence, whipping along party lines, and on liking or the lack of it,” Bigambo said.

Going by public sentiments and inside information around the numbers, it is said the DP could raise about 12 senators to his side.

Notable names on his side include Kiambu’s Karungo Thang’wa, Joe Nyutu of Murang’a and John Methu of Nyandarua. Nakuru, Laikipia and Lamu senators are also viewed as gravitating towards the DP.

Gachagua is also likely to get the backing of Wiper senators among them Enoch Wambua (Kitui), Agnes Kavindu (Machakos) and Makueni’s Dan Maanzo.

The Kalonzo Musyoka-led outfit had directed its members of Parliament to stand with Gachagua, orders which some of its members defied in the Tuesday vote.

Nominated Senator Shakilla Abdalla is among those likely to stand with the DP, but pundits are not ruling out any shifts.

It is not clear how Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, Kisii’s Richard Onyonka, Okiya Omtatah of Busia and Kajiado’s Seki Lenku would vote.

Other votes to watch, analysts point out, are for nominated senators Karen Nyamu, George Mbugua and Margaret Kamar.

According to sources aware of the behind-the-scenes intrigues, 55 senators could support the motion. Some political schools of thought, however, hold that it would not be as easy as imagined.

Former LSK president Eric Theuri said while he expects most of the 11 grounds put forth for Gachagua’s impeachment to collapse, not all will be lost.

by the star