President William Ruto and his deputy address wananchi in Kagumo town, Kirinyaga, during a development tour of the county on August 10, 2024.
An impeachment motion mooted against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua by a section of lawmakers from Mount Kenya has been shelved. The development follows a multi-layered intervention, including that by President William Ruto in what we established was informed by various reasons, some going beyond Mr Gachagua himself.
The group of lawmakers, some of who see the second in command as a stumbling block to their own political ambitions, accuse him of isolating the region from the rest of the country, among other charges, was putting the final touches on the impeachment motion by the time the President intervened.
And when he met Mount Kenya MPs at the State House on Saturday, August 10, morning, Dr Ruto talked the lawmakers out of the plans. To him, whatever issues his deputy is raising or is being accused of do not warrant an impeachment even though a few handlers remain convinced that he should be shown the door for what they call sabotage and/or insubordination.
Kieni MP Njoroge Wainaina, who attended the meeting, said: “We also told him that the impeachment talk was giving us problems at the grassroots. We requested the President to give us an assurance that he will do everything in his powers to stop the impeachment debate against Mr Gachagua and he agreed.”
The President is further reported to have assured them that there was no rift between him and his deputy “only some small issues here and there, which we are dealing with”. Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu, who has been vocal against Mr Gachagua, told the Nation: “We are now a united mountain that loves our President’s broad-based government courtesy of the State House meeting.”
Mr Nyutu confirmed that the leaders confessed to the Head of State that the political bickering in the region was putting them under voters’ pressure and aggravating their 2027 re-election ambitions. “I personally declared that I have no problem with the Deputy President and from now henceforth we will unite to deliver the pre-selection pledges we made,” he said. Interestingly, three of the DP’s strongest critics were a no-show — National Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wa, Laikipia East MP Mr Mwangi Kiunjuri and Mathira MP Eric Wamumbi.
Multiple sources said it is the MPs who requested that Mr Gachagua should not be invited since he was going to be part of the agenda, a request that Dr Ruto granted to allow them to engage freely and openly. From accusing a number of MPs from the mountain of undermining him, Mr Gachagua is also on the record condemning some allies of the President for trying to micromanage him.
“Some people who are friends of the President want to be my bosses. These people, including PAs and bloggers, want to tell me what to do. If you are friends with the President, please keep your friendship with him and leave me alone,” Mr Gachagua said in June. On his part, Mr Nyoro said: “It is true we met the President and among the issues we discussed, were national unity and the part we will play.”
“We have a cardinal duty to support the President we elected massively as a region, identify with his challenges in delivering his mandate as well be there for him as he strives to win stability necessary for the nation to thrive,” he added Until the change of heart, the second in command had come under a barrage of political missiles, some threatening to bury him. A number of staffers and aides have recently been questioned with regard to the ongoing street protests. Some of them are being investigated by police over accusations of aiding the protests, a charge the DP says is meant to embarrass him.
Impeachment
“I would love to see how those especially from Rift Valley, who we helped win the 2022 elections, will be dealing with this impeachment debate,” Mr Gachagua had declared at the height of the impeachment debate. To observers, he’s responsible for his tribulations. Other than opening so many warfronts, his public outburst approach to politics has not helped either. He has also rubbed the National Intelligence Service and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations the wrong way.
With the new position on the subject of impeachment, it was decided that the presidential duo jointly tour the mountain to reassure the region that all was well between them. A key voice from among the President’s men opposed to the ouster bid said the impeachment route was not only unnecessary, it was also going to be too bloody, affecting ‘innocent’ people who Mr Gachagua brought to government.
The threat from the former Mathira MP that he would not go down without a fight also made it clear that it was going to be a full-blown war. He stated that he, at the same time, would not resign. Then for President Ruto, there’s the grave concern that the move will distract his government from service delivery. Dr Ruto, smarting from the Gen Z wave of protests, has told his handlers that he can not afford another ‘manufactured crisis’.
He wants peace to govern for the next three years because that will be a key determinant of whether he’s re-elected or not. Another school of thought is that the action will lionise the DP, whether he survives the plot or not. The feeling or sense of victimhood that would come with the move, they say, will elevate the DP to even greater standing in the country something he could easily ride on in the next elections.
Related to that, those against the move say, such a motion automatically elevates the ‘villager’ like he refers to himself to the coveted position of Mount Kenya kingpin, a seat retired president Uhuru Kenyatta has held since the late Mwai Kibaki — his predecessor — exited the political scene in 2013. It is on this basis that those keen on assuming the same slot are opposed to his ouster. “I will not support the impeachment of the Deputy President. As long as I’m alive, I will not allow his impeachment,” former Public Service minister Moses Kuria said recently.
Another reason Dr Ruto’s politburo has advised him against giving the nod to kick out his principal assistant is his pre-election promise that he’d never harass his deputy like his case under Mr Kenyatta.
Cleverly, DP Gachagua in a joint media interview last weekend reminded his boss of this promise. A double-barrelled chess move in the coming in of ODM leader Raila Odinga by way of seconding his lieutenants to the Cabinet is another reason for the dropping of the impeachment plot, a member of the President’s inner circle said.
The argument that the president now has options and that his deputy cannot hold him hostage was another reason that informed the latest development. ODM numbers in parliament will now be at the service of the president and can be deployed appropriately should those loyal to Mr Gachagua choose to defy government Bills.
The same numbers can also come in handy in the event of an impeachment. This is not the first time those in the corridors of power are contemplating giving a DP marching orders.
After a strained relationship between Mr Kenyatta and Dr Ruto following a handshake with Mr Odinga in 2018, plans were afoot to strip Dr Ruto of his position.
But unlike the current case, Dr Ruto had at least three-quarters of the ruling Jubilee MPs on his side and such a move would have backfired on the president. It had to be vacated.
