Police officers were on the spot on Tuesday night after attacking media personnel who were covering reactions in Rigathi Gachagua's home constituency of Mathira where residents staged demonstrations to protest the impeachment of the second in command.
The events saw media personnel from TV47, including reporter Moige William, forced to end their livestream after police stormed the venue where a reporter was collecting public views from the residents who had come out on the streets.
Despite the media personnel's interventions to have the police let them do their job, the officers, some of whom wore civilian clothes, were adamant that everyone leave the streets. The events occurred past 10 pm
‘’We are working and we are on live coverage. Let us do our work,’’ Moige William, a journalist, told the police, as they disrupted the coverage.
The residents held demonstrations to protest the impeachment of the second in command maintaining that Members of Parliament errored in kicking him out.
Police officers swung into action shortly after the impeachment tally was made public and dispersed the crowds that had lit bonfires on roads.
‘’We are not happy with the decision of the Parliament to impeach the deputy president and they should have listened to him so that he can continue discharging his duties,’’ Manase Kinyuaa, a resident, told the media.
According to videos seen by Kenyans.co.ke, the residents lit fires across the roads, disrupting traffic flow within the town center as they vowed to protest the move to have Gachagua out of office.
The developments came in even as local Member of Parliament Eric Wamumbi was ironically on the list of MPs who voted to impeach Gachagua.
During the voting, a total of 281 MPs voted to impeach Gachagua who had initially appeared before the house to defend himself from the allegations leveled against him as 42 others chose to stand with him.
Gachagua’s fate now lies with the Senate which is expected to debate the impeachment by the National Assembly, this is set to take place within 7 days after receiving communication from the Speaker of the National Assembly.
If the Senate holds the decision of their counterparts at the National Assembly, then Gachagua’s impeachment will go down in the history books as the first impeachment of a sitting deputy president since the inception of the 2010 Constitution.
