Editor's Review

For the impeachment motion to be tabled, it needs to be supported by 117 MPs.


Senior leaders of the UDA party in the National Assembly have hinted that the impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua will be tabled for debate next week.

Speaking to the media on Friday, September 27, Deputy Majority Leader Owen Baya stated that the motion would be tabled on Tuesday if approved by Speaker Moses Wetangula on time.

According to Baya, the impeachment motion against the DP was necessary owing to his recent actions in the public which have been termed unpresidential.

The UDA MP added that the MPs allied to the President were working to bring a watertight motion, asserting that they even had lawyers to work on the impeachment motion.

File image of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

"On Tuesday, if the speaker okays it, then it will be on the floor of the house," he added.

"We have a good team of lawyers that are meeting. They have a meeting this afternoon. They are looking through the document to ensure that we have something that is tight."

On the other hand, the Majority Whip in the NA, Silvanus Osoro, revealed that many MPs had supported the impeachment motion. Reports indicate that close to 260 MPs are supporting the impeachment bid.

He expressed that many legislators were not pleased with the DP and had offered to table the impeachment motion.

"Members of Parliament are actually competing on who should move the motion," Osoro claimed.

Take of Gachagua's Allies 

On their part, Gachagua's allies have questioned why those behind the impeachment motion have not made the signatures public.

Led by Kiambu Senator Karungo Thang'wa, the leaders wondered whether the proponents of the impeachment had received the requisite numbers.

"Those who have the list of signatures should release it. Let us see it. Why are you hiding it? Why are you just showing us those for Narok MPs? Show us those leaders from Mt Kenya who have signed it," the Senator dared.

"They signed it even without being given the grounds. Maybe they were signing off their parcels of land and they do not know."

Law on Impeachment

For the impeachment motion to be tabled, it needs to be supported by 117 MPs.

The grounds envisaged for impeachment in the constitution as detailed in Article 145 include gross violation of a provision of this Constitution or of any other law.

Additionally, Gachagua can be removed from office for having committed a crime under national or international law or for gross misconduct.

The impeachment motion can only sail through if supported by 233 MPs during the vote.