Jump to navigation

Kenya

Plot to impeach William Ruto gathers steam

If it wins enough votes, the plan could bar the Deputy President from the succession race

After Musalia Mudavadi's Amani National Congress revealed that it had instructed its legal team to draft articles of impeachment, the idea has been enthusiastically taken up by William Ruto's enemies in the governing Jubilee party.

Jubilee party vice chairman David Murathe said the party will rally its members to support the motion once it is tabled in the House. As one of Ruto's fiercest critics, Murathe's stance is unsurprising. But wider support for the plan is damaging the Deputy President (AC Vol 61 No 19, Keeping up with the Kenyattas). 

Accusations of land grabbing and corruption have accompanied Ruto throughout his political career, there is little pretence that impeachment is motivated by anything other than politics. It would leave Ruto without a party a year ahead of the presidential elections in which he sees himself as a leading contender.

'We shall support anybody who brings a motion to impeach the Deputy President on account of violation of chapter six on ethics and integrity,' Murathe warned at the weekend. For the moment, it is unclear whether Ruto's critics are close to having the numbers, but the impeachment threat is genuine.



Related Articles

Keeping up with the Kenyattas

As they take the field, the battle between the President and his deputy is testing the limits of ethnic politics

'You should go and insult your mother, not mine' said President Uhuru Kenyatta on 10 September to a small crowd just outside Nairobi. He was referring to two...


Jolly Roger justice

As attacks by Somali pirates increase in the Gulf of Aden, the trials of those captured during the last ten months begin in Mombasa

The trials of suspected Somali pirates captured by United States and European Union navies began on 8 October in Mombasa. One hundred Somalis accused of attacks against cargo...


The street takes on State House

Bolstered by another billion from the IMF, President Ruto reckons he can face down a militant but uncoordinated opposition

Austerity economics and street protests are dominating William Ruto's first term in the presidency after he rejected restructuring Kenya's debts in favour of two years of fiscal belt-tightening....


Devolution blues

Challenges in the Supreme Court over devolution and rows about salaries for MPs and teachers give the new government plenty to think about

After only a few weeks in office the Jubilee government led by President Uhuru Kenyatta finds itself putting out a succession of domestic political fires, some of which...


Bombs and plots

Bombs, plots and opposition squabbles may get Moi and his government reelected in 1997

The bomb which exploded off Harambee Avenue, central Nairobi, on 15 September killed one person. It also pulverised the southern part of the Central Bureau of Statistics and...