DEPUTY PRESIDENT WILLIAM RUTO IMPEACHMENT
Garissa Township MP Aden Duale has laid it bare why it is impossible to remove Deputy President William Ruto from office.
In a detailed thread he tweeted on August 25, Duale said it is an uphill task to get legal grounds that will form the basis of an impeachment motion against the DP.
He says an impeachment offence is not what a majority of MPs considers as an offence at a given moment but, what the Constitution dictates.
Duale notes that those calling for the DP’s impeachment are incognizant of what the law says and, therefore, their push is simply an exercise in futility.
“It is not what political busybodies define as impeachable, it is not the rules of a cattle dip, it is what the Constitution defines as impeachable subject to the thresholds therein.
“The Honorable Members who are calling for an impeachment of the Deputy President are therefore either in some legal slumber or are knowingly misleading the public,” Duale said.
The former Majority Leader went further and listed 8 crucial processes that must be followed for an impeachment motion against the Deputy President to stand legally.
He says the process must be anchored under Article 145 of the constitution as read together with Article 150. He adds that the process of impeaching the DP is similar to that of the President and that attendant thresholds apply.
Duale notes that the process must start at the National Assembly, not the Senate, and must be initiated by a sitting Member of the National Assembly.
On signatures, the MP wishing to start must have 117 signatures of members, a third of the total number of MPs, in support of the motion; which to him is impossible to achieve now.
For the motion to pass, Duale says it is a political nightmare given that they will be required to have at least two-thirds of 349 MPs, translating to 233, voting in support.
From National Assembly, the law requires the motion to proceed to the Senate where the allegations will be heard by a committee of 11 Senators.
If the committee approves the grounds of impeachment, the Senate will proceed to vote and at least two-thirds of Senators must vote in support for it to go through.
It is on the aforementioned grounds that Duale opines that the removal of DP Ruto from office is an impossible affair that can never happen.
“From the foregoing, it is quite clear that the Constitution has no room for strangers, busybodies, extortionists, idlers and ethnic profiles. Our Constitution protects all Kenyans from cheap witch-hunts.
“The Pro-Impeachment proponents know this too well, but they have chosen, once more, to market cheap and worthless fishing expeditions,” Duale added.
According to article 150 (b) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the Deputy President can be removed from office by way of impeachment if; he has violated the Constitution or any other law, where there are serious reasons to believe that the Deputy President has committed a crime under national or international law or for gross misconduct.
By People Daily
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