NAIROBI, Kenya May 19 – Senate Majority Chief Whip Irungu Kangata on Tuesday gave a Notice of Motion to remove Deputy Speaker Speaker Kithure Kindiki, days after reports emerged the Tharaka Nithi Senator was a marked man for snubbing a Senate Parliamentary Group meeting convened by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Temporary Deputy Speaker and Uasin Gishu Senator who presided over the Sitting directed the matter to be scheduled for debate.
“I beg to move that this House of Senate resolves that Senator Kindiki, be removed from the office of the Deputy Speaker of the Senate,” Kangata stated without divulging details, including grounds for Kindiki’s removal.
Kang’ata had over the weekend confirmed that he will be seeking the ouster of Kindiki because he had not given any official communication to the Jubilee Party as to why he had not attended the Parliamentary Group Meeting.
The newly installed Majority Whip will require at least 44 Senators to vote in support of Kindiki’s removal.
Article 106 (2) of the Constitution provides that the office of Deputy Speaker shall become vacant when a new House of Parliament first meets after an election; if the relevant House so resolves by resolution supported by the votes of at least two-thirds of its members; or if the office holder resigns from office in a letter addressed to the relevant House.
Article 103 of the Constitution provides that the officer holder can removed through death; if, during any session of Parliament, the member is absent from eight sittings and is unable to offer a satisfactory explanation; if the member resigns from Parliament or is deemed to have resigned from the party.
Others targeted in the Jubilee purge against allies of Deputy President William Ruto include Chairperson for Senate’s Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Senator Samson Cherarkey, Finance and Budget Committee ‘s Mahamud Mohamed and Devolution Committee’s John Kinyua.
