Kenya's Parliament removes the deputy president from office in an impeachment trial
Kenya’s Senate has voted to remove Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from office in an impeachment trial on corruption and other allegations, hours after the deputy president was taken to the hospital with chest pains
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s Senate voted Thursday to remove Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from office in an impeachment trial on corruption and other allegations, hours after the deputy president was taken to the hospital with chest pains.
Senators approved five of 11 grounds for impeachment against Gachagua, making him the first sitting deputy president to be removed from office in impeachment proceedings.
The vote on the first of the five counts was 54-13, well above the two-thirds majority required to convict and remove him from office. The lower house of Parliament, the National Assembly, voted 282-44 last week to impeach the deputy president.
Gachagua had pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the 11 charges and had been expected to be cross-examined by lawyers from the Assembly in the afternoon. But the hearing was briefly adjourned after Gachagua was hospitalized and his lawyers asked for a pause to give him until Tuesday to appear before the chamber.
