Kenya impeaches deputy president for “corruption, undermining government”

 

The Kenyan Senate has voted to oust Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in a historic impeachment vote.

The upper house has so far voted on Thursday to impeach the 59-year-old on five charges out of a total of 11 against him, following two days of hearings.

The Senate only had to find him guilty of one charge to remove him from office.

He is the first deputy president to be removed in this manner since impeachment was introduced in Kenya’s revised 2010 constitution.

A similar motion against President William Ruto’s number two was overwhelmingly approved by the lower house National Assembly last week.

The Senate session had plunged into disarray earlier Thursday after Gachagua was admitted to hospital with severe chest pains and failed to testify in his defence. [Al-Jazeera]