While Kenya’s president William Ruto had hoped that public participation on October 4 was going to legitimise his desire to impeach his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, it turned out to be an anti-climax.

In almost all the venues in the 47 counties where the public gathered to give their views on whether Gachagua should be impeached or not, there were chants of “Ruto Must Go”—with most people maintaining that Ruto and Gachagua were elected on one ticket and should go together. 

Eric Omondi, a comedian-turned-political activist says that the issue is about the presidency not an individual. “Ruto and Gachagua were elected as a package and one cannot be removed without the other,” he said.

Most of those who went for public participation argued that impeachment was not a priority when the country faced more pressing challenges that needed to be addressed urgently.

They include the proposed lease of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA to an Indian tycoon—Gautam Adani; the controversial Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF); and the proposed scrapping of the presidential term limit.

Others are the new university funding model; the unconfirmed of medical interns and junior secondary school teachers; continued abductions extra-judicial killings, and rampant official corruption. 

“It was perplexing that we didn’t see such elaborate public participation regarding important issues such as the sale of JKIA and SHIF. The government even provided transport to the venues because the impeachment serves them but not the people,” said James Mwaura, one of the activists. 

The differences between Ruto and Gachagua has been simmering since they took power in September 2022, but it came to a head in June and July when the Gen-Z staged popular street demonstrations to get rid of the Kenya Kwanza government over corruption and one-delivery.

Ruto’s coterie suspected that Gachagua took advantage of the Gen-Z’s dissatisfaction to boost their protest to take over. Thus, Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse on October 1, tabled a notice of motion to impeach Gachagua based on ten counts.

They include; insubordination; corruptly and unlawfully acquiring assets using taxpayers’ money; disobeying the deputy president’s oath of office by singling out certain members of the judiciary for criticism; and openly opposing the president’s policy positions and Cabinet directives, which amounts to insubordination.

However, following the events during the public participation—that was extended to October 5 after the court ruled that it be conducted in all the 349 constituencies—Ruto is not sitting pretty. 

He has to go back to the drawing board after the public participation which he thought would make it easy to get rid of his deputy, has instead turned into a mini-referendum of the government’s performance in the last two years. 

Dr Fred Ogola, a political activist claims that all the 349 MPs were bribed in one way or another, which shows that the legislators are selfish and have none of them cares for the electorate. 

“The 291 who appended their signatures to support the notice of motion were given $2,300 each by the government, while the rest were paid by Gachagua not to sign,” said Ogola who challenged those disputing to take him to court.

The Gachagua impeachment has generated a few issues which Ruto did not expect. One, it marks the beginning of the end of the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA)—given that the head and his deputy have reached irreconcilable differences. Secondly, it has brought the deep-seated ethnic considerations among the so-called “tribeless” Gen-Z that clashed in Nairobi over political supremacy. 

Several Gen-Zs are saying that it is better to remove Ruto before 2027 when he shall have entrenched himself. Yet, the constitution says that his removal means either Gachagua or the Speaker of the National Assembly, Moses Wetangula takes over—none of which is palatable to the majority of Kenyans. 

As we went to press, there were talks that Ruto could be thinking of backing down and announcing the scrapping of the impeachment—given that his opponents are saying that they can start with his deputy and come for him.  

Ruto the hunter has become the hunted as Kenyans await the impeachment debate on October 8, after which the action moves to the Senate where the accrual impeachment or none will take place.

Ruto has to deal with the widespread perception that he is taking Kenya back to the days of the late Daniel arap Moi of the one-man show. He has emasculated parliament, the Senate, the judiciary and the Cabinet—where members cannot explain key policies that they preside over.