Senate Speaker Amason Kingi has ruled that the impeachment proceedings against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua will proceed.
This is after the Senate voted to have the proceedings continue despite the absence of Gachagua, who is reportedly ill.
"To facilitate this decision, I direct the Clerk of the Senate to circulate a Supplementary Order Paper incorporating a Notice of Motion and Motion for the adjournment sought. This being a procedural matter, the Motion, if carried will result in the Speaker Gazetting Saturday, 19th October 2024 as a sitting day to conclude the hearing and determination of this matter, this being the last day allowed by the Constitution of Kenya for these proceedings to conclude," Speaker Kingi moved the motion which the Senators voted to oppose.
Gachagua's lawyers, led by Senior Counsel Paul Muite, had requested the Speaker to give them until Tuesday to allow their client to recover from his illness.
"I am an optimist and living in the belief that the Deputy President will be here on Tuesday. One can only make a decision on whether this witness is believable or not when they see his demeaner in person. There is nothing to replace orality through examination," Muite told the Senate.
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The Senior Counsel added," The deputy President has not chosen not to appear in the Senate…give the deputy president in the interest of justice, given the weight of removing a deputy president from office, give him a couple of days."
On the other hand, lawyers representing the National Assembly had opposed the request, even offering to forego Gachagua's cross-examination.
"We’re willing to take the painful decision to forego the cross-examination of the Deputy President and only proceed with highlighting submissions in relation to the documents we’ve filed," Eric Gumbo stated.
Governor James Orengo, who is part of the National Assembly's team, appeared to question the sudden illness of DP Gachagua.
"For the Deputy President to fail to bring evidence before the House that he has been admitted to a medical institution, we don’t have it. We would rely on the evidence from Senior Counsel Muite…we should have had one of the doctors here to tell us about his admission and condition," remarked Orengo.
Following the decision, Gachagua's lawyers walked out, "Arising from the decision of the Senate, we as the legal team representing the DP are not able to continue appearing without instructions. We, therefore, take our leave."
