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Kenya’s Senate launches impeachment hearings against deputy president Rigathi Gachagua
Kenya’s Senate has begun impeachment hearings against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, hours after a court ruled that proceedings against him are constitutional.
The National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, last week voted to impeach Gachagua on 11 charges, which included corruption, undermining the government and stirring ethnic hatred.
Gachagua has denied all the charges.
The 59-year-old said the impeachment motion, backed by opposition lawmakers and allies of President William Ruto, was based on falsehoods that constituted a political lynching, according to court documents seen by the Reuters news agency.
Gachagua launched an appeal in the high court, but Judge Eric Ogola said on Wednesday that the process could go ahead, clearing the way for the Senate to begin hearings and vote on his dismissal
“At this stage, the process is a lawful, constitutional process, and the Senate will conduct a trial where all the issues being raised before the court will be raised and determined at the moment,” the judge said in court.
As the Senate opened proceedings, Gachagua denied the 11 charges read out by senate clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye. “Not guilty,” Gachagua said in response to each one.
During Wednesday’s session, members of parliament seeking Gachagua’s removal are expected to present their case to the senators.
Gachagua is expected to defend himself on Thursday before the vote. A two-thirds majority would be needed to dismiss him.
If removed, Gachagua would become the first deputy president to exit office in this way since impeachment was introduced in Kenya’s revised 2010 constitution.
He helped Ruto secure vital votes from the populous central Kenya region, but the two have since fallen out and political alliances have shifted.
In recent weeks, Gachagua has complained of being sidelined by the president and had been accused of supporting youth-led antigovernment protests that broke out in June, and that have exposed divisions in the top echelons of power.
Ruto fired most of his cabinet and appointed members of the opposition to what he called a unity government after the protests against tax increases in which more than 50 people were killed.
Ruto has not commented publicly on the impeachment, but Gachagua himself admitted the process could not proceed without the president’s approval.
ALjazeera