Sakaja among 3 key witnesses to testify against Gachagua

BY JAMES MBAKA

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua will on Tuesday confront his accusers with at least three-star witnesses lined up to testify against him when the National Assembly will debate his impeachment motion.

Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse who last Tuesday tabled a notice of motion against the country’s second in command will call his key witnesses including Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja.

Other key witnesses in the impeachment motion against Gachagua include Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau and former acting Kemsa Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mulwa.

The three witnesses are expected to take to the stand to provide finer details to justify the grounds upon which Mutuse has premised his impeachment motion against Gachagua.

Mutuse has cited 11 grounds for Gachagua’s removal from office and has attached and annexed his sworn affidavit and those of Sakaja, Wanajau and Mulwa to support his motion.

The first-term MP who was elected on the Maendeleo Chap Chap party associated with Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua says he has built a watertight case against Gachagua.

In his sworn affidavit, Mutuse avers that he has full knowledge of how the DP allegedly amassed wealth worth billions of shillings in the last two years he has been in office.

“In the last two years, the DP has inexplicably amassed a huge property portfolio estimated at Sh5.2 Billion, mainly through corruption and money laundering,’’ reads part of Mutuse’s affidavit.

Mutuse argues that the staggering wealth portfolio acquired by Gachagua since taking office as the country’s second in command is at variance with his known annual salary of Sh12 million.

In his sworn affidavit, Mulwa who was appointed the KemSa boss in an acting capacity in 2023 after a wave of corruption scandals roiled the agency, says he is competent enough to give evidence.

He premises his competency on his past role as the Kemsa boss and argues that the DP allegedly influenced the award of the Sh3.7 Billion Malaria nets tender.

Mulwa says the DP called him around July 11, 2023, and instructed him to hand over to his agent the original bid bond submitted by a company for the tender.

“As a junior official, there was nothing I could do against a deputy president,’’ Mulwa says in his sworn affidavit.

To this end, Mulwa accuses Gachagua of harassing and intimidating public officers contrary to Section 34 of the Leadership and Integrity Act.

Wanjau will provide evidence in her capacity as the secretary to the Cabinet and the custodian of Cabinet resolutions and policy positions.

“I have knowledge of the issues raised in ground 2 and 10 of the application,’’ Wanjau avers in her sworn affidavit.

She accuses Gachagua of opposing the Cabinet-approved evacuation of residents living within 30 meters of the Nairobi River thus undermining government policy and collective Cabinet responsibility.

She argues that on April 12, 2024, the Cabinet adopted a policy on Nairobi Rivers Regeneration and Flood Mitigation and circulated it to relevant Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and government agencies including the office of the DP for implementation.

Wanjau says the resolutions directed the immediate mapping of the Nairobi Rivers corridor and establishment of a 30-meter statutory riparian boundary as well as the 60-meter panning corridor on both sides of the rivers.

“The mapping was to be done by the Ministry of Lands, Public Works and Urban Development, the county government of Nairobi and the Water Resources Authority,’’ reads Wanjau’s affidavit in part.

The role of the three entities was to approve the removal of existing structures/ buildings along the 30-meter riparian zone within the identified flood hotspots from May 2024.

According to Wanjau, this included an approved plan for shifting people from the danger zones along Mathare, Nairobi and Ngong’ Rivers and an approved cash transfer to facilitate alternative accommodation for those affected.

The governor has sworn an affidavit on the shifting of Wakulima market traders to Outering Road, a decision that Gachagua resisted.

The Nairobi county boss cites Article 10(2)(a) of the Constitution which states that devolution is a fundamental national value and principle of governance.

Sakaja says in his affidavit that on September 20, Gachagua ‘’in reckless disregard of the high calling and dignified status of the office of the DP, unlawfully interfered with the running of the county by holding a rally and inciting citizens against lawful directives in the planning and management of the markets".

Sakaja argues that the DP has previously used ethnic incitement to interfere with the county government’s management of traffic in Nairobi.

“I believe that Gachagua’s inciting and demeaning public statements and conduct are impeachable offences. They undermine devolution, the functional and institutional integrity of the county government and unjustifiably denigrate and ridicule the leadership of county governments,’’ Sakaja’s affidavit reads in part.