Gachagua alleges bribery and threats in impeachment fight

 

Tononoka residents in Mombasa reject Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's planned impeachment during a public participation forum on October 4, 2024. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has unveiled explosive claims of bribery and intimidation in a fresh lawsuit filed in court as he fights to block his impeachment by the Senate.

In a comprehensive 57-page petition lodged in the High Court, Gachagua paints a troubling picture of a political system rife with corruption, coercion, and manipulation.

His document lays bare a series of allegations that not only seek to challenge his impeachment but also expose the underlying dynamics of power in Kenyan politics.

At the heart of his petition are accusations of bribery and manipulation within the National Assembly during his impeachment process.

Gachagua’s legal team, led by Senior Counsel Paul Muite, reveals that a Member of Parliament from the Rift Valley coordinated a scheme to bribe colleagues into voting for his impeachment on Tuesday night.

While Gachagua did not name the MP or disclose how much each received, he insists that many lawmakers were intimidated into compliance, creating an atmosphere of fear within Parliament.

He says that if monetary inducements did not work, those who did not toe the line were threatened

“Many other members of Parliament who have expressed solidarity with Gachagua have informed him that they were threatened and intimidated to vote for the motion, feeling helpless to resist under the circumstances. Others were reportedly offered financial inducements coordinated by a Member of Parliament from the North Rift,” Muite says in the court papers.

The petition also reveals that, as part of the fear and intimidation campaign, several staff members in the Office of the Deputy President were arrested and are only enjoying their freedom due to a court order secured just before the filing of the impeachment motion by Makueni MP Mwengi Mutuse.

Intimidation campaign

The Deputy President says that during the impeachment proceedings at the National Assembly, the vast majority of Members of Parliament appeared to be rallying around a different agenda than the one officially presented by Mutuse

“It seems that many MPs were not genuinely contributing to the motion on the table; instead, they appeared to be advancing a separate, politically motivated agenda,” Gachagua states

“The impeachment exercise was designed to please the President rather than examine constitutional violations,” Gachagua asserts.

Further, Gachagua contends that the public participation data purportedly gathered by the National Assembly to support his impeachment was doctored.

He claims that the statistics were manipulated to create the illusion of overwhelming support among Kenyans for his removal, which he argues is a direct violation of the principles of transparency and fairness. “The process should reflect the voice of the people, not a fabricated narrative,” Gachagua states, indicating that certain constituencies reported figures that defy logical scrutiny.

Among his specific allegations, the DP points to a particularly dubious claim from the Keiyo South constituency, where he asserts that the reported data support for his impeachment exceeded the possible threshold.