The stage is set for immediate replacement of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua should the Senate uphold his impeachment, the Star has established.
The details emerged as Gachagua’s impeachment began in the Senate with damning allegations of how he allegedly manipulated his ailing brother Nderitu Gachagua to sign a will from his sick bed.
The DP also suffered a blow on Wednesday after Senate Speaker Amason Kingi allowed fresh evidence exposing how he used a proxy to acquire a hotel belonging to his late brother.
Gachagua’s fate as the country’s second in command will be determined by a Senate vote on Thursday and the allies of President William Ruto are confident the DP will be sent packing.
State machinery, including Parliament, has already been heavily mobilised for what would be Gachagua’s immediate replacement.
The rushed process is a tactic to avoid any court intervention as Gachagua and his battalion of lawyers will seek to have the Judiciary quash the process.
The National Assembly has called for a special sitting on Friday that insiders say is to approve the appointment of Ruto’s new nominee as the country’s Deputy President.
However, Mugirango South MP Silvanus Osoro, the Majority Whip, said the special sitting is meant to consider “priority business and mediated bills”.
“It is also due to the urgency to conclude certain priority businesses pending in the House before we go for recess,” Osoro said.
The sitting remains curious, as MPs were supposed to take a short recess starting Wednesday but the calendar was altered at the last minute.
The Star has reliably established the special sitting will, among other things, consider a message from Ruto on the replacement.
It is understood that the notice will be relayed to members to either approve the nominee immediately or kick-start the approval process.
Opinion is divided on what the approval process entails, with some analysts arguing the matter can be concluded by close of business on Friday.
"The President can pick a deputy any time after the Senate votes and forward the name to Parliament for voting on Friday. The Deputy President can be sworn in on Friday afternoon,'' political analyst Alexander Nyamboga said.
If that school of thought prevails, the new Deputy President is expected to start work this Saturday with Gachagua rendered an ordinary citizen.
Analysts argue that Article 149 of the constitution does not spell out an elaborate process to be followed in replacing the DP.
The law states that the President shall within 14 days of the vacancy nominate a person to fill the post “…and the National Assembly shall vote on the nomination within sixty days after receiving it,” the constitution states.
“We plan to explore the possibility of dealing with this matter of nomination within the two sittings,” a lawmaker told the Star.
However, some lawyers have strongly questioned the rushed process, terming it a lynch mob and a confirmation that Parliament has been captured by the Executive.
“What is the rush all about? Is Kenya in a crisis? Do we have a state of emergency? Doesn’t this confirm that Parliament is an appendage of the Executive?” constitutional lawyer Ekuru Aukot posed.
According to Aukot, by rushing the process Parliament is flouting all fairness for Gachagua.
“On the face of it, it is clearly emerging that Rigathi Gachagua is not being given a fair hearing, nor is the whole process looking fair. It is a lynching opportunity. The constitution provides that the nomination is done within 14 days and Parliament has sixty days to vote,” he told the Star.
It remains to be seen whether or not Parliament would allow for the submission of views on the new nominees and the vetting of the nominee by the House.
If this route is taken, then Parliament will give members of the public seven days to submit their memoranda on the nominee.
Public participation would then be concluded by establishing the suitability of the candidate by October 25.
The committee is tentatively set to formally vet the candidate on October 28, so that members consider the vetting report immediately after returning from recess.
Gachagua faces a moment of truth as senators vote to decide whether he should continue holding the second most powerful seat in the land.
The DP is said to face an uphill task raising 23 members of the Senate to save him from the sword that threatens to bury his political career.
While all eyes are cast on how senators will vote, the grand question is who fits the bill in Ruto’s narrowing options for DP should the impeachment succeed.
Notable names being touted include Interior CS Kithure Kindiki, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru, Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata, Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi and Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika In the Senate.
The National Assembly represented by a battery of lawyers led by Senior Counsel James Orengo sought to reveal how Gachagua travelled to London where his brother was admitted to sign a will for his vast property.
“On February 17, 2017, the Deputy President travelled to London, to the hospital where his brother was admitted to ICU, where he arrived the next day. He prevailed upon his brother to prosecute the will,” Orengo said.
“The is no evidence at all that that he talked to the doctors,” the Siaya governor added. However, Gachagua through his lawyer Elisha Ongoya contested the allegation, adding that the DP was not in office at the time of the claims.
In its submission, the National Assembly sought to expose how the DP propagated ethnic contempt through his ‘shareholding’ utterances that had the potential to trigger ethnic violence.
While playing videos, the assembly revealed how the DP persistently and unapologetically discriminated against Kenyans along ethnic lines.
“The DP standing here on trial assumes that he was elected to represent the interest of a certain region whereas the constitution is very clear, he is elected by the whole country. He has no area to protect,” Orengo said.
Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse, the sponsor of the motion and a witness for the National Assembly, said Gachagua’s shareholding allegation is an extraordinary wrongdoing requiring impeachment.
“Out of the 12 vice presidents we have had in our history, we have never experienced a deputy president who traverses the country preaching ethnic exclusion,” Mutuse said.
He submitted that the DP has acquired massive wealth estimated at Sh5.2 billion, amassed through corrupt dealings. He said the DP used his family and proxies to amass the wealth.
“During the short period that I researched on this impeachment motion, I came across companies that are registered in the name of the Deputy President, his children or other proxies,” he said.