Part of the security attached to impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was scaled down.
The move came after Speaker of the Senate Amason Kingi gazetted his removal from office through an impeachment.
Gachagua enjoyed security from more than 50 officers drawn from the General Service Unit, General Duty and Administration Police.
The main team that guarded him was from the Recce Unit and Presidential Guard of GSU which also protects the president.
“It had to be scaled down for obvious reasons,” said an official aware of the issue.
Gachagua was admitted at the Karen Hospital in Nairobi when he was impeached on Thursday night.
Whereas security had been heightened at the hospital before his impeachment, the same was scaled down past midnight when the gazette notice came out.
The same happened to most of his establishments that had armed security.
Gachagua had moved out of his official residence in Karen days ago to his private one as the impeachment loomed.
His lawyers are expected to rush to court to seek to overturn the process which may trigger a political crisis.
Senators voted to uphold five of the 11 charges against the DP.
It was then that Speaker Kingi gazetted the move and announced his removal from office.
“…..pursuant to Articles 145 (7) and 150 (1) (b) and (2) of the Constitution and Standing Order 78 (8) of the Senate Standing Orders, on Thursday, 17th October. 2024, the Senate resolved to remove from office, by impeachment, His Excellency Rigathi Gachagua, E.G.H. Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya on the following grounds,” he said.
The grounds included gross violation of Articles 10 (2) (a). (b) and (c): 27 (4). 73 (1) (a) and (2) (b): 75 (L) (c), and 129 (2) of the Constitution and Article 147 (I, as read together with Article 131 (2) (c) and (d) of the Constitution and gross violation of Article 160 (1) of the Constitution on the Institutional and Decisional Independence of Judges.
The others were gross violation of Articles 3 (1) and 148 (5) (a) of the Constitution on the fidelity to the Oath of Office and Allegiance, serious reasons to believe that H.E. the Deputy President has committed crimes under sections 13 (1) (a) and 62 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act and gross misconduct that is incompatible with the high calling and dignified status of the Office of the Deputy President and a member of the Cabinet and the National Security Council, H.E the Deputy President where he has publicly attacked and undermined the work of the National Intelligence Security and its officers.
He becomes the first deputy president to be impeached in Kenya’s history.
The motion of impeachment was tabled by Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse in the National Assembly last week.
A total of 281 MPs voted in favour of the ouster motion against 44 who voted to save his young political career from sudden death.
Dozens of his friends thronged the Karen hospital where he was admitted. Doctors said he was in a stable condition after complaining of severe chest pains linked to stress.
According to Dr. Dan Gikonyo, Chief Cardiologist and founder of Karen Hospital, Gachagua was admitted on Thursday at 3:00 PM after experiencing “intense chest pains.”
“He is stable at the moment and we are still carrying out more tests to rule out any serious issues,” Gikonyo said.
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