Moments after Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's lawyer Paul Muite informed the Senate that his client could not make an appearance for cross-examinations on Thursday, October 17, because he had fallen ill, Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo recounted exactly what transpired.
Speaking after the Senate was suspended, the Senator revealed that Gachagua looked tired when he and his team took a break for lunch.
He added that the DP had lunch in the company of senators from his region before the surprise hit the doorstep of Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, forcing him to postpone the hearing until 5:00 pm.
"The Deputy President just looked tired. In fact, he had lunch in his office with some senators from his region and they said he was okay. Everyone was expecting him in the Senate, even his lawyers," the Senator told the press.
Maanzo added, "But all of a sudden, we got a report from his office that he became sick."
The Deputy President was present in the Senate while the senators sitting went on until the hearing resumed following a lunch break when Gachagua was expected to appear in person.
While speaking to the press, Maanzo insisted that the DP must be accorded a fair chance to be heard and his illness accommodated in the schedule.
"So long as he is in hospital, he must be accorded a fair chance to be listened to under the Constitution. We will wait for the judgment of the speaker and under his order, we will proceed and it will have its own place in law," the Senator concluded.
Just minutes before the DP was given a chance to defend himself in the Senate, his lawyer informed the plenary that he had gone missing. Minutes later, Paul Muite reported to the House that the DP was 'very sick' and had been rushed to the hospital.
Muite told the Senate, “The sad reality is that the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya has been taken very sick and as I address Mr Speaker and this House, he is in the hospital."
Details about what hospital the Deputy President was taken to or what disease he is ailing from are still not privy. The unexpected news put the Senate in limbo, senators were seen consulting each other not knowing which way to take in the much-awaited proceedings that may mark history in the country's political trajectory.
After moments of deliberations, the speaker of the Senate Amason Kingi suspended the hearing until 5 p.m with the order that the DP should avail himself by then.
"We will suspend this sitting and resume at exactly 5. We expect the Deputy President to take the stand at that time. This is a time-bound process, unfortunately. It is so ordered," speaker Kingi ruled.
