Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has confirmed that he will appear before the National Assembly on Tuesday to defend himself against what he terms as “outrageous” allegations levelled against him in an impeachment motion.
Speaking during a press conference at his official residence in Karen, Nairobi, Gachagua said he would honour the summons.
“I have been invited to appear before the National Assembly tomorrow at 5 p.m., and I want to confirm to the honourable members, to the speaker, and the people of Kenya that I will avail myself at that time and prosecute my defence for two hours,” he said.
The DP said he hopes the MPs will allow him to respond to all the allegations without being interrupted.
Gachagua, however, said he called the presser to render his defence to the people of Kenya first before going to their representatives.
“I think it’s only fair when the members of Parliament decide that they want to remove the Deputy President from office, the people who elected Rigathi Gachagua as Deputy President hear his side of the story,” he said.
The impeachment motion was tabled on September 26 by Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse.
He cited 11 grounds on which he wants Gachagua removed from office, including amassing suspect wealth to the tune of Sh5.2 billion in just two years, undermining the President and promoting ethnicity.
Gachagua has denied all the allegations and termed them a political witch hunt.
“That is a scheme to haunt me out of office because of other considerations and has nothing to do with violation of the constitution, gross misconduct [or] committing international or national crimes,” he said.
“The people of Kenya are therefore entitled by right to hear from their Deputy President, what is his response to those outrageous allegations.”
He termed the public particpation exercise conduted on Friday and Saturday as "shoddy exercise" and that his response was not part of what was collected from the people.
"The response of the Deputy President was not there to enable them make an informed decision," Gachagua said, adding that the questionnaire was written in a legal jurgon that many Kenyans could not comprehend.