By Aaron Ross
NAIROBI (Reuters) – If Kenyan Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s removal on charges of stirring ethnic hatred and undermining judicial independence was unprecedented, aspects of the Senate’s verdict late Thursday were very familiar to close watchers of the country’s politics.
On the charge of corruption – which included allegations he had embezzled tens of millions of dollars to buy real estate properties – Gachagua was overwhelmingly acquitted, with 13 senators voting in favour and 53 against.
In all, he was convicted of five charges and acquitted of six others after allies of President William Ruto turned against him in recent months following a public souring of his relationship with his boss.
The precise reasoning for the senators’ votes on the corruption count was not clear, but it did not come as a surprise to many observers in a country where high-level officials rarely face consequences for graft.
Nelson Amenya, a Kenyan businessman and vocal critic of what he sees as rampant graft in public procurement, said senators seemed to fear that convicting Gachagua for corruption could set a dangerous precedent.
“This appears to have been more of a political process, with parliamentarians simply looking for the threshold needed to kick him out,” he said.
It was not the first time Gachagua was accused of corruption. Two months after his and Ruto’s inauguration in September 2022, prosecutors, citing insufficient evidence, dropped a $60 million fraud case against him.
Prosecutors also withdrew several other corruption-related cases against allies of Ruto around the same time.
The presidency did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Gachagua has denied all allegations of corruption as well as the other charges brought against him.
Fury among young Kenyans about high-level graft was a key driver of deadly protests in June and July. In response, Ruto withdrew $2.7 billion in proposed tax hikes and proposed a series of good governance measures.
Earlier this month, the government asked the International Monetary Fund to conduct an official assessment of corruption and governance issues, a move that could help facilitate cooperation with the Fund.
But Edward Ouko, Kenya’s former auditor-general, said he saw no evidence of progress.
“Our politics is a bedrock of corruption,” he said, adding the problem was rooted in the vast amounts of money politicians have to spend to win office.
GROWING SCRUTINY
The impeachment came at a time when Ruto’s government faces growing scrutiny of a series of proposed and completed public procurement deals.
The most prominent is a proposal by India’s Adani Group to lease the country’s biggest airport for 30 years in exchange for expanding it.
The March proposal was made under a procedure that circumvents competitive bidding and was only revealed to the public four months later when Amenya posted the leaked proposal on social media. A Kenyan court temporarily blocked the nearly $2 billion deal last month.
Adani has not commented on its dealings in Kenya but has previously denied allegations made by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research of improper governance practices. Kenya’s government says procurement procedures have been above board.
Ruto also sacked nearly his entire cabinet in response to the protests this year, but then re-appointed nearly half of them.
As part of their re-vetting by parliament, nominated ministers had to provide – for the second time in two years – an estimate of their net worth. The net worths of four of the 10 ministers had jumped by more than 25% – two of them by more than 50%.
Interior Minister Kithure Kindi, nominated by Ruto on Friday to succeed Gachagua as deputy president, reported an increase of more than 27%.
He attributed that to strong earnings by his law firm and some “small businesses” he has invested in. “None of my money has come from the public except a salary and the allowances that I am entitled to,” he told parliament.
(Reporting by Aaron Ross, Editing by Ammu Kannampilly, William Maclean)
