Kenyan Vice President Rigathi Gachagua did not appear in the Senate to testify at the impeachment trial, while his lawyer said he was ill.
The vice president, who was at home in the morning, is expected to appear from 14:30 local time (11:30 GMT) to make his defense ahead of Thursday night’s vote on whether Should he be removed from office or not?
“The sad reality is that the Vice President of the Republic of Kenya has fallen ill and is… in hospital,” said his lawyer Paul Muite.
Meetings have been suspended until 5:00 p.m.
National Assembly Speaker Amason Kingi said they were expecting the vice president to take the stand as a witness later.
“Unfortunately, this is a time-bound process,” he said — the impeachment trial cannot legally extend beyond Friday.
The speaker said the case could then continue without his presence or “for special reasons that need to be recorded to allow the vice president to appear later” after the proceedings, citing a regulation on trial procedure.
Two-thirds of the 67 senators are required to remove him from office.
He faces 11 charges, including corruption, inciting ethnic division and sabotaging the government.
When the trial began on Wednesday, the vice president pleaded not guilty to each of the charges as they were read in the house.
The vast majority of lawmakers in Congress last week voted to impeach him, setting the stage for a trial in the Senate.
He fell out with President William Ruto, just two years after they were elected on the same ballot.
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.
Mr Ruto has just been forced to withdraw taxes, a major blow to his power. He fired his cabinet and brought opposition members into his government.
Mwengi Mutuse, the lawmaker who introduced the motion, appeared in the Senate as a witness on Wednesday, accusing Gachagua of violating the constitution by bringing it to parliament based on various reasons in the motion. his proposal.
He considered the allegations against the vice president “extraordinary” misconduct worthy of impeachment. He gave the example of Gachagua’s comment that the government is like a joint stock company, suggesting that only those who vote for the government will benefit in terms of development and services.
He also accused the vice president of acquiring vast wealth through corrupt transactions, among other accusations.
The lawmaker was then taken to task during cross-examination and at times appeared to have difficulty defending his evidence.
A clip of President Ruto speaking at a rally was played in the Senate, where he called the people of Murang’a, in central Kenya, “major shareholders” of the government.
Gachagua’s lawyers asked Mutuse why the vice president could be charged for “assisting” the president.
This lawmaker was also forced to justify the basis for valuing the assets that the vice president is said to have acquired.
He is accused of buying assets worth 5.2 billion Kenyan shillings ($40 million) in the two years since becoming vice president – allegedly acquired through corrupt means.
He said that most of the assets mentioned were from his late brother’s estate.
During the trial, one of Gachagua’s lawyers, Elisha Ongoya, said all the allegations against the vice president were “false, ridiculous or embarrassing”.
Andrew Mulwa, the former chief executive of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, the second witness, faced tough questioning over his allegation that he was threatened by a call from the vice president demanding demanded the return of documents for an aborted mosquito net tender that the president had. charged with interference.
“This is the first time I have received a call from a sitting Vice President and a request for documents under investigation,” he said. Mr. Chairman, in my 15 years as a public servant, I have never been asked to do that.”
Gachagua has dismissed the allegations as “ridiculous and baseless”, and his legal team has pointed out that this happened when the process was already complete and argued that no money was lost.
A third witness, Abdi Mohamud, deputy chief executive of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, gave evidence on allegations of conflict of interest in relation to the matter as well as allegations that the vice president received gifts in the form of cows from the government. public.
The trial was scheduled to continue with the vice president defending himself for the remainder of the day.
At the end of the process, senators will debate the motion and then vote.
The vice president is a wealthy businessman from the vote-rich Mount Kenya heartland.
In just five years, he has risen from first-time MP to number two in Kenya’s leadership, after Ruto selected him as his running mate in the August 2022 election.
His impeachment trial has dominated discussions among many Kenyans and the media in recent weeks.
Many observers expect his impeachment will pass if opposition members support the ruling coalition as they did in the National Assembly.
Gachagua is expected to challenge the decision if it passes.
Kenyan media have reported on possible replacements, including current governors Irungu Kang’ata and Anne Waiguru (both from central Kenya) and ministers Kithure Kindiki (home affairs). and Musalia Mudavadi (prime minister for cabinet and foreign affairs) were mentioned.
