Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is banking on public participation to save his skin as MPs plan to table a motion for his impeachment at the National Assembly any time from now.
Addressing local stations in Meru on Sunday night, Mr Gachagua said kicking him out of the Kenya Kwanza administration would not be a walk in the park like lawmakers want to appear.
Mr Gachagua said from the meetings he had held over the past one week, the people in the Mt Kenya region are not interested in seeing him out of the government.
He said public participation is enshrined in the Constitution before such a matter as impeachment is decided, adding that “it not done just like that. We must follow the law and the Constitution is clear where the Parliament cannot be left alone to handle such a serious matter…”
“I am waiting to see how they will conduct the public participation after the motion is tabled because that is a requirement. Let the MPs go to the people and ask them whether impeaching Gachagua is the right thing to do at the moment when we have a lot of work to do,” the DP said.
“I have toured the Mt Kenya region and my people on the ground have told me I should not get shaken. And assured me that when their MPs come to ask them whether they should impeach me, they will tell them off. The job I hold was given to me by the people of Kenya and just 200 people cannot overturn the will of the people,” he added.
Mr Gachagua waded into formation of the broad-base government, saying although he was not initially consulted about incorporating opposition leader Raila Odinga’s allies into the Cabinet, he embraced it after President William Ruto explained why it was necessary.
“The president told me that we needed to foster unity in the country and I agreed. But if the numbers were being mobilised in Parliament so that they can kick me out of government, then the president was not honest and he will not be trusted even in churches. Kenyans will realize that Mr Odinga did not come for unity but to destroy United Democratic Alliance party, which will suffer stability,” he said.
He went on: “Again, if they go ahead with the plan to impeach me, it will not augur well for Raila Odinga in his quest to clinch the AUC chair. How can he be fighting battles at home and seeking a continental position that is supposed to unify Africa?”
Concerning the allegation that officers from his office were involved in sponsoring the Gen Z apprising that saw Parliament invaded and part of it set on fire on June 25, Mr Gachagua wondered whether the three people being accused could mobilise the kind of protests that were witnessed in the country.
“The protests were in 35 counties across the country and I am shocked that just three people are accused of organising the demos. After all the president said, they were sponsored by the Ford Foundation. So who sponsored the Gen Zs, was it the people in my office or the Ford Foundation.”
Mr Gachagua also indicated that he would not go down without a fight, saying he was an experienced man who had worked in government and private sector for over 30 years.
“As an administrator (he was a DO during Moi’s regime), I worked for 15 years and another 15 in the private sector. If you add the five years in Parliament as the MP for Mathira, that is 35 years of experience. I am an all-rounder and I know the government like the back of my hand. If there is war and I am asked to defend my county, I will take a gun and bring down the enemy,” he said.
The DP also cautioned that if MPs went ahead and impeached him, Kenyans would lose trust in leaders, especially President Ruto who is on record saying he would never take his deputy through the suffering he himself underwent under former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“Any impeachment motion against me has to be endorsed by Ruto and if he tells them to kick me out, then Kenyans will lose faith in him. It is on record that he said he will not mistreat his deputy the way he was mistreated. If it the impeachment sails through, the people of Mt Kenya will not trust him,” he said.
Concerning the issue of Kenya being a shareholding company, of which he has been accused, Mr Gachagua said there is no comment he ever made without consulting President Ruto, adding that the president should also carry the blame.
“In Constituting the first Cabinet, the president picked eight individuals from Mt Kenya region and four from Rift Valley. That was in agreement that those who contributed the highest number of votes should form the government. It is the president who constituted the Cabinet and he should also shoulder the blame,” he said.
Mr Gachagua accused those who want to kick him out of government of scheming to relegate Mt Kenya region to the political cold, just like it happened during the reign of the late Moi.
The DP said the division was clear now, where some politicians from the Mt Kenya East had endorsed Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to be their link between the people and the president.
He said in the 1992 and 2007 elections, after the reintroduction of multi-party politics, the Mt Kenya region was divided with the late Kenneth Matiba and Mwaki Kibaki vying against Mr Moi, giving a clear win to Moi.
“But in 2002 we all came together and rallied our troops behind Mwai Kibaki and we won. What I am seeing now is the same scheme that Moi used. If we are divided into Mt Kenya East and West, that will be end of this region politically,” he said.
