How Uhuru’s impeachment talks filled Parliament’s tray

A bid to impeach President Uhuru Kenyatta may be difficult given the high threshold needed for such a Motion to be successful.

Yesterday, MPs and constitutional lawyers explained that political wrangling could not be fronted as ground for impeachment.

The President has to be guilty of gross violation of the Constitution, or commit a serious crime.

The MPs argued that even if such a Motion were to find its way to the National Assembly, it would be defeated by the prevailing political environment.

This is because lawmakers would be whipped to support the President by party leaders keen to run for president in 2022, and who would not want to hand an advantage to their competitor – Deputy President William Ruto.

The Constitution provides that the Deputy President takes over power for the remainder of the term should the President be impeached.

The political turbulence within Jubilee has kicked off talks of an impeachment Motion against Uhuru by MPs allied to Mr Ruto.

Yesterday, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale dismissed claims that some MPs allied to Ruto were scheming to impeach Uhuru.

He called the claims “fake-news”, saying they should be ignored.

Minority Leader John Mbadi, Mr Wetang’ula and Minority Whip Junet Mohammed said such a Motion would suffer a resounding defeat on the floor.

“They cannot impeach the President in the current political environment because they have no capacity at all. It is pure hyperbole,” said Wetang’ula.

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