The Senate voted on Thursday to proceed with the impeachment trial of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in his absence. Senators voted in acclamation to reject a procedural motion to adjourn the sittings until Saturday, October 19, 2024.
“As this process is time-bound by the constitution, and noting that the period expires on Saturday, the only window open will be to gazette Saturday as the final day for hearing of this matter,” Senate Speaker Amason Kingi directed before the senators cast their votes. “Such a request is made to the Senate, not the speaker. I direct the clerk to circulate a motion of adjournment.”
Kingi had proposed to adjourn the afternoon sitting to Saturday, but the senators voted against the request. This decision came after Gachagua’s lawyer, Paul Muite, stated that the Deputy President would not be able to attend physically due to suffering intense chest pains. “I have been able to contact the doctors at Karen Hospital, but because of his condition, I was not able to directly talk to him,” he explained. “He is currently suffering intense chest pains.”
Muite further clarified that Gachagua did not choose to be absent from the Senate but was compelled by his health circumstances. He requested the Senate to grant Gachagua a couple of days to appear, pleading with the Speaker for an opportunity to be heard before the voting process. He suggested that the Senate adjourn until Tuesday, subject to Gachagua’s recovery, emphasizing that Gachagua is willing to stand before the Senate for cross-examination.
National Assembly Senior Counsel James Orengo expressed skepticism about the validity of Gachagua’s illness, stating that the House should be presented with a doctor’s report. “Muite has not given us any explanations. For the DP to fail to bring evidence that he is admitted, we are just relying on what Muite is saying.
In practice, I can say that there are many times where people have represented me with documents and later found them to be fake,” he stated. “The DP should have sent one of the doctors here to tell us about his admission and condition because up to 1:15, the DP was here and he left here and went to his office; there is no evidence that he was evacuated in an ambulance.”
Earlier, the impeachment trial against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua took an unexpected halt after he failed to show up during the afternoon session.
Gachagua, who was in the House for the impeachment trial, was a no-show during the afternoon session, raising concerns about his whereabouts.
However, his legal team, led by Senior Counsel Paul Muite, said they had received information that the DP has been taken ill and is currently admitted to the hospital.
“The sad reality is that the DP has been taken ill and is currently in hospital. That is the sad reality,” Muite said.
Muite requested the Senate Speaker to provide his legal team time to monitor the progress of the DP.
“I propose that you give me the rest of the day to have an assessment of the DP situation and come back by 5 pm after seeing him and speaking to the doctor,” Muite said.
