A public participation exercise on the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was on Friday temporarily suspended after chaos erupted at a venue in Nyeri County.
During the demonstrations, the residents dismissed the calls by the National Assembly to impeach the deputy president claiming that the second in command was elected alongside the president.
In the videos obtained by Kenyans.co.ke, the residents lit bonfires outside the public participation centre prompting security officers to intervene.
"No Rigathi, no Ruto. Don't try to touch the mountain. We are strongly behind Gachagua," the residents chanted as they called a halt in public participation claiming that the deputy president's impeachment bid was politically orchestrated.
While protesting, the angry locals barricaded the road that leads to Nyeri town, paralysing transport and business services within the area. However, the demonstrations were cut short after more police officers were deployed to the area.
Despite police intervention, the adamant locals vowed to continue protesting even as they called on President William Ruto and DP Gachagua to resolve their differences internally.
A similar situation was witnessed in Kiambu County after locals disrupted an ongoing public participation exercise to vent their frustrations at the National Assembly's imminent decision to oust DP Gachagua. "This is like a marriage and if Gachagua leaves, he quits alongside Ruto," claimed a resident.
A section of the residents also expressed dissatisfaction over how the public participation exercise was being undertaken claiming that the exercise had already been compromised by the fact that it was undertaken in paperwork.
"They should have allowed us to vote electronically through a website. That would be credible, but this process is prone to rigging," claimed another Kiambu resident.
Meanwhile, the public participation exercise which formally commenced today, October 4, is set to end on October 5 with Kenyans allowed to express their views in line with Article 182 of the Constitution.
Kenyans seeking to express their opinion on the deputy president's impeachment were directed to submit their views online by sending them to impeachment@parliament.go.ke. Alternatively, Kenyans were also directed to express their views by simply visiting the gazetted centres.
On Tuesday, October 1, an impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was tabled before the National Assembly and backed by 291 members of Parliament.
