Kenyan senators have voted to remove Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from office despite his failure to testify at his impeachment trial after his lawyer said he had been taken to hospital.
Senators chose to continue the trial without him, prompting the defence team to leave the chamber.
This comes just two years after Ruto and Gachagua were elected on a joint ticket.
Ruto has not commented on the impeachment of his deputy.
At the start of the trial, one of Gachagua’s lawyers, Elisha Ongoya, said all of the allegations were “either false, ridiculous or embarrassing”.
Although Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua did not testify during his impeachment trial, his lawyer claimed he had been taken to the hospital, and senators in Kenya voted to remove him from office.
Gachagua had been scheduled to defend himself in the Senate following lunch on one of the most dramatic days in recent Kenyan political history, following his not-guilty plea to eleven charges.
Nevertheless, Gachagua, also referred to as Riggy G, failed to appear, and his attorney asked for a postponement, citing his client’s chest pains and the fact that The Karen Hospital’s medical staff was attending to him.
When senators decided to proceed with the trial without him, the defense team left the room.
Several months after Gachagua and President William Ruto fell out, the senators were determined to remove Gachagua, as evidenced by their refusal to postpone the proceedings until Saturday, even though doing so would have been legal.
The framework for his two-day trial in the Senate was established last week when a resounding majority of members of parliament in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, decided to impeach him.
Prominent businessman Gachagua, who was in the house early in the morning, is from the politically influential central Mount Kenya region. He has called the impeachment a “political lynching.”.
Rigathi Gachagua is who?
The reason behind the rift between the president of Kenya and his deputy.
The necessary two-thirds of the 67 senators supported five charges on Thursday night, including inciting ethnic divisions and breaking his oath of office. These charges are sufficient to remove him from office.
Six counts against him, including money laundering and corruption, were dropped.
This occurs barely two years after Ruto and Gachagua ran together and won the same seat.
The vote solidifies Ruto’s hold on power and puts an end to months of internal strife at the highest level of government.
The dispute reached a boiling point in June when Gachagua accused the head of the intelligence agency of failing to adequately brief Ruto and the government about the scope of widespread protests against unpopular tax hikes—a move widely perceived as an attempt to undermine the president.
Ruto had just been made to retract the taxes, a severe blow to his authority. He added members of the opposition to his government and dismissed his cabinet.
Regarding his deputy’s impeachment, Ruto has remained silent.
One of Gachagua’s attorneys, Elisha Ongoya, stated at the beginning of the trial that every accusation was “either false, ridiculous, or embarrassing.”.
Gachagua had threatened to appeal the outcome if it was approved prior to the vote.
The 59-year-old went to the hospital with heart problems, but a doctor told the Reuters news agency that he was stable and would be getting tests.
Four individuals have been mentioned in Kenyan media reports regarding his potential replacements.
Governor Irungu Kang’ata of Murang’a County.
Governor Anne Waiguru of Kirinyaga County.
Kithure Kindiki is the interior minister.
Musalia Mudavadi is the minister of foreign affairs.
Extra reporting from Jewel Kiriungi of the BBC in Nairobi.
