Jump to navigation

Kenya

Plot to impeach William Ruto gathers steam

Prepared for Free Article on 20/04/2024 at 13:20. Authorized users may download, save, and print articles for their own use, but may not further disseminate these articles in their electronic form without express written permission from Africa Confidential / Asempa Limited. Contact subscriptions@africa-confidential.com.
PREVIEW

If it wins enough votes, the plan could bar the Deputy President from the succession race

After Musalia Mudavadi's Amani National Congress revealed that it had instructed its legal team to draft articles of impeachment, the idea has been enthusiastically taken up by William Ruto's enemies in the governing Jubilee party.

Jubilee party vice chairman David Murathe said the party will rally its members to support the motion once it is tabled in the House. As one of Ruto's fiercest critics, Murathe's stance is unsurprising. But wider support for the plan is damaging the Deputy President (AC Vol 61 No 19, Keeping up with the Kenyattas). 

Accusations of land grabbing and corruption have accompanied Ruto throughout his political career, there is little pretence that impeachment is motivated by anything other than politics. It would leave Ruto without a party a year ahead of the presidential elections in which he sees himself as a leading contender.

'We shall support anybody who brings a motion to impeach the Deputy President on account of violation of chapter six on ethics and integrity,' Murathe warned at the weekend. For the moment, it is unclear whether Ruto's critics are close to having the numbers, but the impeachment threat is genuine.

Copyright © Africa Confidential 2024
https://www.africa-confidential.com


Related Articles

Keeping up with the Kenyattas

As they take the field, the battle between the President and his deputy is testing the limits of ethnic politics

'You should go and insult your mother, not mine' said President Uhuru Kenyatta on 10 September to a small crowd just outside Nairobi. He was referring to two Kalenjin politicians &...

Mixed Marriage

The wedding of the Kenya African National Union and the National Democratic Party was consummated in a carnival atmosphere at the Moi International Sports Complex outside Nairobi o...

Ethnic straitjackets

Wrangles over the vice-presidency embitter the race to succeed Moi

Vice-President George Saitoti survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament on 30 June, which is good news for his political godfather, Nicholas Biwott, now Minister of East African ...

Bye-election fever

Two crucial polls reveal the strategies of the major parties. Politics as ethnic loyalty is the main theme for both

Two bye-elections on 7 March were make-or-break events for two big political leaders: Raila Amolo Odinga of the opposition Coalition for Reform and Democracy and Deputy President W...

Coal hard cash

Kenyan politicians are battling over the controversial award of a contract for a coal mine in Eastern Province by the Energy Ministry to a little-known Chinese company. Water Min...


Stories by country

Footer Map