Dr. Kinity: Impeachment Shouldn’t Obscure The Real Challenges Facing Kenyans

By Suleiman Mba­t­i­ah 

Worth Not­ing:

• The polit­i­cal ten­sion reached a new thresh­old on Tues­day when Nation­al Assem­bly Speak­er Moses Wetan­gu­la sanc­tioned the ini­ti­a­tion of impeach­ment pro­ceed­ings against Gach­agua. This deci­sion came after a strik­ing show of sup­port from 291 Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment (MPs)—well above the 117 required to move for­ward with such a sig­nif­i­cant polit­i­cal process.
• Gach­agua now faces 11 charges, encom­pass­ing alle­ga­tions of eco­nom­ic crimes, abuse of office, and severe vio­la­tions of the Con­sti­tu­tion. Speak­er Wetan­gu­la announced that Gach­agua would be invit­ed to Par­lia­ment to respond to these charges on Octo­ber 8, mark­ing a cru­cial moment in this unfold­ing polit­i­cal dra­ma.
• In a state­ment issued to media out­lets, Dr. Kin­i­ty artic­u­lat­ed con­cerns regard­ing the deep­en­ing rift between Pres­i­dent Ruto and his deputy.

The ongo­ing polit­i­cal cri­sis in the coun­try has laid bare the fail­ures of the cur­rent admin­is­tra­tion, with many call­ing into ques­tion the pri­or­i­ties of the polit­i­cal lead­ers and oth­er duty bear­ers.

Dr. Isaac New­ton Kin­i­ty, a sea­soned union­ist and for­mer Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al of the Kenya Civ­il Ser­vants Union, con­tends that the impeach­ment of Deputy Pres­i­dent Rigathi Gach­agua should not take prece­dence over more press­ing nation­al issues.

In Dr. Kinity’s view, the impeach­ment process is poised to serve only the inter­ests of either Pres­i­dent William Ruto or Deputy Pres­i­dent Gach­agua, while doing lit­tle to address the dire chal­lenges fac­ing ordi­nary Kenyans.

“The peo­ple of Kenya need to see tan­gi­ble ben­e­fits from their lead­ers, and this admin­is­tra­tion has yet to deliv­er on that promise,” he stat­ed, under­scor­ing a grow­ing frus­tra­tion on the rul­ing Kenya Kwan­za admin­is­tra­tion across the coun­try, even in Pres­i­dent Ruto’s strong­holds.

Dr. Kin­i­ty, who also serves on the Pres­i­den­tial Advi­so­ry Board of the Repub­li­can Nation­al Com­mit­tee in the Unit­ed States, believes that the cur­rent focus on polit­i­cal maneu­ver­ing detracts from sub­stan­tive solu­tion and peo­ple-cen­tered gov­er­nance.

The polit­i­cal ten­sion reached a new thresh­old on Tues­day when Nation­al Assem­bly Speak­er Moses Wetan­gu­la sanc­tioned the ini­ti­a­tion of impeach­ment pro­ceed­ings against Gach­agua. This deci­sion came after a strik­ing show of sup­port from 291 Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment (MPs)—well above the 117 required to move for­ward with such a sig­nif­i­cant polit­i­cal process.

Gach­agua now faces 11 charges, encom­pass­ing alle­ga­tions of eco­nom­ic crimes, abuse of office, and severe vio­la­tions of the Con­sti­tu­tion. Speak­er Wetan­gu­la announced that Gach­agua would be invit­ed to Par­lia­ment to respond to these charges on Octo­ber 8, mark­ing a cru­cial moment in this unfold­ing polit­i­cal dra­ma.

In a state­ment issued to media out­lets, Dr. Kin­i­ty artic­u­lat­ed con­cerns regard­ing the deep­en­ing rift between Pres­i­dent Ruto and his deputy. He not­ed that their diver­gent polit­i­cal and per­son­al agen­das could wors­en ten­sions should the impeach­ment pro­ceed, regard­less of its out­come.

“This issue tran­scends mere polit­i­cal rival­ry; it car­ries the poten­tial to under­mine and desta­bi­lize the very foun­da­tions of gov­er­nance in our coun­try. Such polit­i­cal dis­cord threat­ens not only the sta­bil­i­ty of the cur­rent admin­is­tra­tion but also the trust and con­fi­dence that cit­i­zens place in their lead­ers and insti­tu­tions,” he warned.

Reflect­ing on past polit­i­cal crises, Dr. Kin­i­ty recalled the May 2022 dead­lock dur­ing the selec­tion of Ruto’s run­ning mate, which cul­mi­nat­ed in a gru­el­ing 17-hour stand­off between sup­port­ers of Gach­agua and those favor­ing Kindi­ki Kithure for the posi­tion with­in the Kenya Kwan­za alliance.

As Kenyans grap­ple with esca­lat­ing eco­nom­ic hard­ships, health and edu­ca­tion fund­ing mod­el cri­sis, ram­pant cor­rup­tion, and oth­er urgent issues, Dr. Kin­i­ty expressed pro­found frus­tra­tion with the cur­rent polit­i­cal cli­mate.

“Kenyans deserve a Par­lia­ment that is focused on pass­ing bills that cre­ate jobs, improve pub­lic ser­vices, and uplift liv­ing stan­dards for all—not one con­sumed by end­less polit­i­cal wran­gling,” he assert­ed. He fur­ther sug­gest­ed that if MPs are keen on impeach­ment, they should also con­sid­er address­ing the actions of Pres­i­dent Ruto him­self.

Dr. Kin­i­ty also high­light­ed the role of Oppo­si­tion Leader Raila Odin­ga in the cur­rent polit­i­cal land­scape, sug­gest­ing that his recent alliance with Pres­i­dent Ruto has con­tributed to the ongo­ing cri­sis. This col­lab­o­ra­tion, which result­ed in the for­ma­tion of a so-called “broad-based gov­ern­ment,” raised eye­brows among the pub­lic and polit­i­cal ana­lysts alike.

He point­ed to the very pub­lic fall­out between Deputy Pres­i­dent Gach­agua and Pres­i­dent Ruto, which has inten­si­fied over the past five months. Dur­ing this peri­od, dis­cus­sions between Ruto and Odin­ga report­ed­ly inten­si­fied – beyond 2027, fur­ther com­pli­cat­ing the polit­i­cal land­scape.

“His­to­ry has shown us that cracks with­in gov­ern­ments often emerge, cre­at­ing divi­sions and dis­cord among mem­bers, par­tic­u­lar­ly when­ev­er Mr. Odin­ga joins a gov­ern­ment. This ten­den­cy can lead to the sidelin­ing and under­min­ing of cer­tain indi­vid­u­als,” Dr. Kin­i­ty con­clud­ed.