Kenya parliament approves new deputy president after Gachagua sacked

Kithure Kindiki is set to take over from Rigathi Gachagua, who has filed a court application to stop his removal.

Kenya’s parliament has approved the nomination of Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki as the new deputy president, a day after the Senate voted to impeach Rigathi Gachagua.

The decision comes after President William Ruto nominated Kindiki as his deputy on Friday.

“I have received a message from … the president, regarding the nomination of Professor Kithure Kindiki to fill the vacancy which has occurred in the office,” Speaker Moses Wetangula told the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, ahead of the approval.

Kindiki, a close ally of Ruto, has held the interior ministry post through Ruto’s two years as president.

He previously served as senator for Tharaka-Nithi County and was a top contender to be Ruto’s running mate during the 2022 election.

After obtaining parliamentary approval, Kindiki will have to be sworn in.

Gachagua filed a court application on Friday seeking to stop the replacement, the Reuters news agency reported, citing court documents.

In an unprecedented move, a majority of lawmakers in the lower house of parliament last week voted to impeach him on 11 charges which included corruption, undermining the government and stirring ethnic hatred.

As a result, he lost retirement benefits and cannot hold public office again.

The Senate, the upper house, voted to remove him on Thursday despite Gachagua’s absence from the proceedings as a result of illness.

His lawyer Paul Muite said Gachagua had been hospitalised with intense chest pains and had urged the Senate to pause proceedings for a few days.

Gachagua, who has maintained he is not guilty, had launched a legal challenge against the impeachment proceedings in the high court, but Judge Eric Ogola said the process could go ahead.

He had backed Ruto in his 2022 election win and helped secure a large block of votes from the populous central Kenya region. He has spoken of being sidelined, amid widespread reports in local media that he has fallen out with Ruto as political alliances have shifted.

Ruto sacked most of his cabinet and appointed members of the opposition to what he called a unity government after nationwide protests against tax increases in which more than 50 people were killed.