Kenyan senators voted to remove Vice President Rigathi Gachagua from office despite his failure to testify at his impeachment trial after his lawyer said he had been taken to hospital.
In 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 he pleaded not guilty to 11 charges.
However, Gachagua, popularly known as Riggy G, did not appear and his lawyer requested an adjournment on the grounds that his client was suffering from chest pain and was being treated by doctors at the Hospital. The Karen hospital for treatment.
Senators decided to continue the trial without him, causing the defense team to leave the room.
The senators’ refusal to delay proceedings until Saturday – as long as allowed by law – shows how determined they are to remove Gachagua, months after he fell out with the President William Ruto.
Last week, the vast majority of lawmakers in the National Assembly – the lower house – voted to impeach him, setting the stage for his two-day trial in the Senate.
Gachagua, a wealthy businessman from the vote-rich central Mount Kenya region who was at the house in the morning, described the impeachment as a “political punishment”.
On Thursday night, two-thirds of the 67 senators upheld five charges including inciting racial division and violating his oath of office – enough to get him removed from office.
He was cleared of six charges including corruption and money laundering.
This comes just two years after Ruto and Gachagua were elected on a joint ticket.
The vote draws a line after months of infighting at the highest levels of government and consolidates Ruto’s power.
The controversy peaked in June when Gachagua, in an act seen as undermining the president, blamed the intelligence chief for failing to properly inform Ruto and the government about the scale of the Massive protests against unpopular tax increases.
In a major blow to his power, Ruto has just been forced to withdraw tax revenue. He fired his cabinet and brought opposition members into his government.
Ruto has not commented on the impeachment of his deputy.
At the start of the trial, one of Gachagua’s lawyers, Elisha Ongoya, said all the allegations were “false, ridiculous or embarrassing”.
Before the vote, Gachagua had said he would oppose the decision if it passed.
Reuters news agency quoted a doctor as saying the 59-year-old man had gone to the hospital because of a heart condition, but was stable and undergoing tests.
Kenyan media has reported on possible replacements for him, with four mentioned:
- Murang’a district governor Irungu Kang’ata
- Kiriyaga District Governor Anne Waiguru
- Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki
- Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi.
Additional reporting by the BBC’s Jewel Kiriungi in Nairobi.
