Why the urgency to impeach DP Gachagua is misplaced energy

 

President William Ruto and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua during the National Prayer Breakfast at Safari Park Hotel on May 30, 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 be handled.

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. By the Constitution, the process should have lasted at least over two months.

The President has two weeks to make his appointment and Parliament 60 days to approve. But all that was done in a day. All relevant offices seem to have been on high alert, including the government printer. Senators sat into the dead of the night and still beat the sun the next day to dispense with the matter in record time.

However, if Kenyans’ sentiments are anything to go by, this efficiency was needed elsewhere. All this was happening at a time when the health system was overwhelmed, if not broken already. It was just last week that we buried Dr Desree Obwogi, a medical intern who allegedly committed suicide after a 36-hour shift, signifying an extremely poor working environment.

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

This was 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, which is slowly becoming a preserve of the rich and elite. It is now over four months since young Kenyans were brutalised 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 the government loses money on projects that remain incomplete.

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, that come 2027, we still would not have sorted out our healthcare problems, our education sector challenges and many other ills but all the political cards will be in their rightful place.

The writer is a communications consultant. [email protected]