Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua addresses the media at his official resident in Karen, Nairobi on Monday, October 7, 2024.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua dismissed the 11 charges leveled against him in an impeachment motion before the National Assembly, vowing he would move to court to seek justice in the event of his ouster.
A dozen cases were lodged in the courts opposing impeachment proceedings against the deputy president but there were no orders gagging Parliament from considering the Motion to impeach the DP.
On Monday night, Mr Gachagua signaled that if Parliament impeaches him, he would take the fight to the courts, in particular citing what he described as sham public hearings, in protracted proceedings expected to end up in the Supreme Court.
The DP was bullish that none of the charges meets the threshold for his removal from office, and should MPs and Senators decide to impeach him, he would seek legal redress in court.
“I want to say that overturning the will of the people is not a joke. It calls for very serious violation of the constitution. None of these issues raised against me meets the threshold,” the DP charged on Monday night.
The DP said he would honour invitation to Parliament on Tuesday from 5pm to 7pm to defend himself over the allegations in the ouster motion filled against him by Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse.
“I will go to Parliament at 5pm for 2 hours and put my case. In the unfortunate event that it proceeds to the Senate, I will be there to prove my innocence by way of evidence," he said.
Mr Gachagua also reiterated that he would not quit his position as the Deputy President of Kenya.
“I have no intention whatsoever to resign from this job. I’ll fight to the end. This is a man elected by 7.2 million Kenyans, how dare you suggest to him that he can do so without public participation?” he posed.
"I have tremendous respect for our judiciary and the professional judges of the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Kenya and in the professional manner they have handled serious issues affecting Kenya. The impeachment of a DP elected by 7.2 million Kenyans is not a small matter that can hastily be decided by a few MPs and senators and wish it away,” he told journalists during a televised news conference at his Karen residence in Nairobi.
He further promised to submit himself to independent institutions to get justice.
“I’m sure and have no doubt in my mind that I’ll get justice and this impeachment will be thrown out and I’ll carry out my duties as deputy president. That is why anybody sending fillers to me to resign is a joker,” the DP said.
The DP termed the ouster motion against him as a “fabrication based on unfounded allegations.”
He said Mr Mutuse, who tabled the motion in Parliament, was only being used by unnamed persons, and had only appended his signature on the motion without taking its ownership.
He described the charges in the motion as "outrageous and baseless propaganda" intended to tarnish his reputation and remove him from office.
He specifically denied allegations that several properties mentioned in the impeachment motion were obtained through corrupt means, stating that the majority of the assets belonged to his late brother, James Nderitu Gachagua, who died in 2017 of pancreatic cancer.
“In his will, my late brother bequeathed his properties, assets, and cash. Among them were the Olive Garden Hotel, Vipingo Beach Resort, Queens Gate Apartment, and Langata Highrise Flats,” Gachagua stated.
“Mutuse claims I acquired these properties after becoming deputy president in 2022, despite the fact that my brother died in 2017.”
The DP stated that his late brother, the former Nyeri Governor, had appointed him, Mwai Mathenge, and lawyer Njoroge as executors of his will.
He also stated that part of the funds in his account came from the sale of the Olive Garden Hotel, as specified in the will.
He also delved on the controversial mosquito net scandal, in which one of his sons had been implicated. He said the matter was from eight years ago, long before he became the deputy president.
He clarified that the company at the centre of the issue, Shobika Impex Limited, had appointed Crystal Kenya as their local agent to handle logistical tasks and monitor supplies at the ports of entry.
He clarified that the tendering process was carried out by Shobika, not Crystal Kenya.
When the tender did not succeed, he explained, his son contacted the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) to enquire about the status of the bid bond on behalf of Crystal Kenya.
The deputy president admitted that he personally contacted Kemsa after learning that Sh500 million had been paid as a bid bond and was being held up.
He said Kemsa informed him that the money had been seized by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) while the matter was being investigated. He stated that the EACC eventually closed the case and returned the bid bond.
The deputy president also criticised the recently completed public participation process, which sought Kenyans' opinions on his proposed ouster. He described the process as poorly executed and inaccessible to many citizens.
“The public participation was a shoddy exercise that most Kenyans couldn’t comprehend. The accusations were presented in highly legalistic language, making it difficult for people to make an informed decision. Additionally, my response wasn’t included in the materials provided to the public,” Gachagua said.
According to him, the Tuesday impeachment will be the most shameful act in House history, as legislators will attempt to remove a democratically elected leader based on fabrications.
The motion proceeded to public participation across the 47 counties after gaining support from 291 lawmakers in the National Assembly.
“An attempt to do a public participation in a very shoddy exercise that was done. My response was not part of what was presented to the people of Kenya. Kenyans were asked to give their views as to whether the DP should be impeached from office and the accusations were attached but in a highly legalistic language beyond the comprehension of many Kenyans. The response of the DP was not there to enable them to make an informed decision,” he charged.
He said it was important that the people who elected him as DP get his response on what he termed as “outrageous accusations against their DP that have no basis, that is sheer propaganda, that is a scheme to hound me out of office because of other political considerations and has nothing to do with the violation of the Constitution, it has nothing to do with gross misconduct and it has nothing to do with committing international or national crimes.”
He said it is only fair that when MPs decide that they want to remove the Deputy President from office, the people who elected him must hear his side of the story.
“I thought it is also respectful to the voters to have the first opportunity to hear from me before the honourable members because they are the ones who elected me to office,” Gachagua said.
