Senator files censure motion against Gachagua

Sep 23, 2024 - 15:20

By Peter Ochieng

Deputy President (DP) Rigathi Gachagua’s tribulations in President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration are seemingly far from over.

This is after Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana filed a censure motion against him, calling out the DP for allegedly engaging in divisive politics.

Mungatana said he filed the motion with the office of the Speaker of the Senate, Amason Jeffa Kingi on Monday morning, accusing the second in command of betraying the oath of office he took in 2022.

“Concerned that Hon. Rigathi Gachagua. E.G.H on several occasions since his assumption to Office of the Deputy President, has made utterances, among others, regarding employment of opportunities to Kenyans in the public service, allocation of resources to the devolved units and incitement of a section of Kenyans to disobey lawful directives by some county governments,” the legislature says in the motionseen by Nairobi Review.

“Further concerned that the public utterances made by Hon. Rigathi Gachagua, E.G.H, the Deputy President of Kenya, have marginalized sections of Kenyans, created and continues to create heighten tension among different ethnic communities in Kenya; portrays the conduct of Hon. Rigathi Gachagua as being in contravention of Article 75 of the Constitution; are against the national values and principles of governance espoused in Article 10 (2) of the constitution; and demean the high office of the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya.”

It is worth noting that a censure is not an impeachment motion.

The motion creates room for legislatures, on the floor of the House, to debate or show disapproval against the conduct of a state officer.

The motion has been filed on the backdrop of claims that the DP may be impeached within the next two weeks, as political alignments and realignments take shape ahead of the 2027 general polls.

While being interviewed on Citizen TV on Friday, Gachagua acknowledged the push to have him impeached, calling on President Ruto to ‘put his house in order.’