NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 8 – Garissa Township lawmaker Aden Duale has his Lugari counterpart Ayub Savula to submit before Parliament his proposed motion to impeach Deputy President William Ruto.
The former Majority Leader was speaking on Monday when he joined 138 colleague lawmakers allied to DP Ruto at his official residence in Karen.
Duale dismissed Savula saying prosecuting an impeachment motion “is not a birthday party or a walk in the park”.
He criticized Savula for raising the issue during funerals and churches.
“An impeachment of a DP is not a birthday party. I want to dare them, let let them not discuss the impeachment in bars, funerals and their girlfriends’ houses. Let them bring it to the floor of the house starting tomorrow (8 February) when the house resumes,”
Duale was echoing Meru Senator Mithika Linturi who had said the impeachment of DP was on a non-issue and that the caucus did not discuss it. Linturi said the lawmakers instead focused on handling relevant Bills in Parliament which is set to resume on Tuesday.
Savula, who is the Amani National Congress (ANC) deputy leader and his party members have accused Ruto of sabotaging his boss’ agenda by inciting the public against the government.
“We have taken the lead in preparing a motion of impeachment to protect Kenyans against violence implosion being clandestinely fermented by Ruto, a rich and powerful man in the government pretending to be poor,” Savula said during a press conference on January 12.
In his proposed impeachment motion Savula claims Ruto’s ambition is, according to him, in competition with the government’s priorities at a time when politics around the Building Bridges Initiative is taking shape countrywide.
Duale, during the parliamentary caucus on Monday also noted that the initiative which is spearheaded by Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta is not a priority for the Ruto’s faction insisting that the team is pushing for a consensus or a multiple choice referendum.
“We have said consensus is the route so that we don’t have a divisive referredum, our competitors want to divide Kenyans, they are banking on that. If worse come to worse, give them a democratic right to choose from the BBI proposals, do not force people on the item that they have a constitutional right.”
As the House resumes on Tuesday, the group noted that it will only focus on bills that are pro-Hustlers.
“We will be looking at Miraa and Livestock which lacks proper legislation and market linkages, we will look at nut oil which affects most farmers in coastal areas, we will also look at unemployment and how we can come up with bottom up approaches,” the MPs said in a joint statement.
Kandara Member of Parliament Alice Kandara also highlighted that the security of many DP-allied MPs’ has been withdrawn.
“We are asking the police assigned to our meetings and be properly uniformed for purposes of accountability,” Kilifi North MP Owen Baya reiterated.