Embattled Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, on Tuesday night, reacted to the decision by a majority of Members of the National Assembly (281 to be exact) to impeach him.
Taking to his social media accounts, the deputy president shared a cryptic message by quoting a biblical verse from 1st Thessalonians 5:18. "Give thanks in all circumstances; this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."
Gachagua further quoted another biblical verse from the book of Jeremiah 30:19. "From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honour, and they will not be disdained."
The deputy president went ahead to comment “It is well” even as he conceded to the decision by the National Assembly to oust him from office.
Gachagua was impeached on Tuesday evening after a majority of parliamentarians voted in favour of the motion that sought to impeach him from office. During the impeachment process, 281 MPs voted in favour of the motion while 44 legislators opposed the motion with one lawmaker abstaining.
Before the ouster, the deputy president was granted two hours to present his defence against the 11 charges against him. During his presentation, Gachagua termed his impeachment as unfair, claiming that he only followed his boss' footsteps.
The second in command, while responding to allegations of making sensational sentiments against the National Intelligence Security (NIS) boss Noordin Haji, stated that he copied the vice from President William Ruto who as the deputy president during President Uhuru Kenyatta's tenure, criticised top security bosses.
“Hence, I expressed my opinion on this in my public media briefing in Mombasa and my utterances were not any different from what happens in other countries when there is a lapse or failure by the intelligence agencies," Gachagua stated.
Following his dismissal by parliamentarians, the impeachment motion is now set to be tabled before the Senate by Senate Speaker Amason Kingi. Kingi will convene a special sitting within seven days during which the lawmakers shall debate the motion.
After debating the charges leveled against the deputy president, the Senate plenary will then appoint an 11-member committee to probe all the 11 charges for ten days.
The committee shall then present its findings before the Senate plenary after the ten days. If the findings fail to meet the grounds to warrant the deputy president's impeachment then the ouster motion shall be quashed immediately.
In equal measure, if the Senate upholds the charges for impeachment then the deputy president shall be granted the final hearing after which voting will be carried out among senators.