AdminBy Emman Ozoemena
The event of the last few days in Kenya regarding the impeachment of the country’s Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, the business turned politician, who has been in the saddle along with President William Ruto for two years now has gripped attention of the continent.
The sprawling East African country has preoccupied the attention of African political watchers in the last couple of months.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelFirstly, the youth led protests, which spread like wild fire across the country. The protest put Kenya on the spot for several months, culminating in the dissolution of the cabinet by President Ruto, the acclaimed leader of ‘the Hustlers nation’ which was the tagline for his campaign to presidency in 2022 in a high pitch electoral contest. He had fallen out of favour with his former political ally and boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, after 10 years as his deputy president from 2013 to 2022.
Though, the two men were initially political opponents, they formed the Jubilee Coalition in order to wrest power from the then outgoing president Mwai Kibaki, who was not in the mood to hand over to the duo of Kenyatta and Ruto. It was not until the end of his second tenure that Kenyatta publicly demonstrated a disdain to see Ruto as his successor as he preferred Raila Odinga, a former prime minister to take over from him as president.
Ruto, the chicken farmer, knowing that he has met the brick wall, cultivated new coalitions and allies, with the deputy president, Gachagua as the new political bride. Proton, the Kenya Kwanza Coalition which included other political actors, won the election with a narrow margin.
The two men were happy that they had won the big prize which President Kenyatta wanted to deny them. For former PM Odinga, the leader of Azimio La Umja that marked the end of long political career which many hoped would culminate in his accession as the President of Kenya.
The emerging political development in Kenya relating to the impeachment of Kenya’s deputy president opens a new dynamic for constitutional democracy in Africa, in which leaders who rose to power through coalitions and allies tend to capitulate after winning elections.
READ ALSO: Gachagua Stable In Hospital After Shock Impeachment As Kenyan Deputy President
Recall that Ruto desperately needed to build a coalition with his deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua in the run up to the 2022 elections in Kenya to enable him to clinch the presidency with a narrow margin. It was seen by many analysts as the smartest political decisions on his path to the presidency.
Perhaps, now Ruto may be making efforts to consolidate power, and has had to ditch his deputy Gachagua via a convoluted impeachment procedure in the Kenyan parliament.
READ ALSO: From Power To Prayer: Kenya’s Deputy President Quotes Scripture Ahead Of Impeachment
It will be interesting to see how the political scenario plays out as the impeached deputy president turns to the judiciary for rescue. How much help can the judiciary offer to him? Can the tide be halted and he gets his position back as the deputy president? The coming days and weeks might be pregnant with surprises, as they say in Africa proverbs.
No matter what happens, the outcomes of this political battle may well define the tempers and momentum as well as the future of Kenyan politics in the 2028 elections.
Emman Ozoemena is a policy consultant based in Abuja, Nigeria.
