Jubilee to support Ruto impeachment — Murathe

The Jubilee Party says it supports the proposal to impeach Deputy President William Ruto on account of violation of the provisions of chapter six of the Constitution.

A day after Musalia Mudavadi’s ANC party said Mr Ruto’s impeachment is a matter of national interest, vice chairman David Murathe said the party will rally its members to support the motion once it is tabled in the House.

“We shall support anybody who brings a motion to impeach the Deputy President on account of violation of chapter six on ethics and integrity,” Mr Murathe said.

The former Gatanga MP’s confirmation, made during an early morning interview on K24 TV, adds impetus to what initially started on January 13 as an innocuous attempt by ANC to flex its thin political muscle in the House.

Even though Raila Odinga’s ODM has refused to support the motion, a source has hinted to the Nation that it could revise its position on the issue and support the motion to have the DP send home.

ANC has instructed its legal team to draft the articles of impeachment on the account that the DP is undermining President Uhuru Kenyatta through his continued stay in office “by deceit”, conniving, inciting the public and scandalising the government in which he serves.

The actions of the Deputy President amounts to “treasonable sabotage” with collateral damage on stability of the country, the party says.

In his interview on Thursday, Mr Murathe revealed that MPs allied to President Kenyatta are “building the numbers” and that the Jubilee Party will “be happy to support such a motion.”

“We are going to impeach him,” he said, hinting that the land scandals that have dogged the DP’s political career could form part of the evidence to support the articles of impeachment to be submitted to Parliament.

He claimed that the DP has acquired large tracts of land in Taita Taveta county, Trans Mara and his own Uasin Gishu county, all which he linked to land grabbing, corruption and impunity.

He cited the case in Taita Taveta, where the DP is said to own more than 1,000 acres of land, another 2,000 acres in Kilgoris, land initially owned by the late Joseph Murumbi who briefly served as the vice president in the 1960s.

Mr Murathe further cited the land on which the Weston Hotel sits, another in Eldoret, but could not provide details about its size or location, and the infamous 100 hundred acres in Uasin Gishu in which the DP was accused, and convicted for having grabbed for an individual who had been displaced in the 2007/08 post-election

“We have the facts and the evidence. In any case, he doesn’t hide these things,” he said referring to the DP’s own admission of having occupied the IDP’s land.

The court ordered him to pay the IDP Sh5 million in compensation.

At the same time, Mr Murathe agreed with the sentiments expressed by the Senate majority whip Irungu Kangata in his letter to the President on the BBI in Mt Kenya region.

In the highly controversial letter, Mr Kangata had told the President BBI was unpopular in Mt Kenya region warning that it risked being rejected in the referendum.

During the interview, Mr Murathe defended the senator saying he spoke “truth to power” and raised pertinent issues that focused on facts about the BBI which he termed as the President’s legacy to unite the country.

“It was the truth and that is why as Jubilee party we have not taken action against him,” he said.

Despite being a political process, there have been no Mt Kenya politicians drumming up support for the process despite the region is primed for great gain in the long run.

“The manner he did it was wrong, but he raised issues that have energised the BBI process in the Mt Kenya region because there was no politician campaigning for it in Mt Kenya region.”