Urgency to impeach Gachagua was misplaced energy

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (2nd left) with his lawyers Paul Muite (from left ) Tom Macharia,Njiru Ndegwa and Elisha Ongoya at the Senate Chambers during his motion hearing. October 17th,2024 [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

The urgency with which the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was done is exactly how Kenya’s myriad problems should have been handled.

Rigathi’s Gachagua’s impeachment took less than half the time allowable by the constitution under Article 145. Even quicker was the appointment and approval of his replacement. Under the constitution, the process should have lasted at least over 2 months.

The president has a period of two weeks to make his appointment and parliament 60 days to approve the same. But all that was done in just a day. 

All the relevant offices seem to have been on high alert, including the official government printer. Senators sat well over into the dead of the night and still beat the sun the next day just to make sure that the matter was dispended in record time.

However, if Kenyans' sentiments are anything to go by, this kind of efficiency was needed elsewhere.

All this was happening at a time when our health system was being overhelmed, if not broken already.

It was just last week that we buried Dr. Desree Obwogi, a medical intern who allegedly committed suicide after completing a 36-hour shift, signifying an extremely poor working environment.

There are a lot more like her going the same not only in the medical sector but other sectors too. Kenya is a country where labor laws only exist on paper. Workers are literally treated like slaves and paid peanuts while making millions for their employers.

All this was happening at a time when Kenyans were missing out on several procedures due to confusion over the SHA implementation.

Having taken over two years to be implemented, no one should lie that the challenges witnessed had not been anticipated. Why they were not mitigated is the big question.

This efficiency and urgency with which Gachagua was impeached was needed to address the problems dogging higher education in Kenya, which is slowly becoming a preserve of the rich and elite.

It is now over four months since young Kenyans were brutalized on the streets of Nairobi. Over 60 of them died, many maimed and a lot more unaccounted for. No one wants to speak about it.

Forget not that we do not have an IEBC yet. Several constituencies and wards have consequently remained unrepresented.

Lack of efficiency and urgency is the reason why the government loses money on projects that remain incomplete for too long or forever.

If it takes a week to impeach a deputy president, appoint and approve another, and even prepare for his inauguration, then it’s possible for Kenya to achieve a lot more in just one term of presidency. However, it is a pity that urgency only matters where it bears political fruit. It is a pity that only then does it become convenient to set aside constitutional timelines and prescriptions.

Kenya loses a lot of time in petty politics driven by personal interests. It is already clear now that political chess games for the 2027 elections have started. I can bet, come 2027, we still would not have sorted out our healthcare problems, our education sector challenges, and many other ills that Kenyans have voiced over and over again but e all the political cards would be in their rightful place.