Kenyan senators have voted to remove Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from office after upholding five charges in his impeachment trial. The decision marked one of the most dramatic political episodes in recent Kenyan history and confirmed the collapse of Gachagua's relationship with President William Ruto.
Gachagua had been expected to appear in the Senate but did not do so after his lawyer said he had been taken to hospital with chest pains and was being treated at The Karen Hospital. Senators decided to proceed without him. They upheld five of 11 charges, including inciting ethnic divisions and violating his oath of office, while clearing him of allegations including corruption and money laundering. That was enough to remove him from office and strip him of retirement benefits.
The political chain reaction was immediate. Ruto nominated Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki to replace Gachagua, and parliament quickly approved that choice. But the picture then became more complicated: the Nairobi High Court suspended both the impeachment and Kindiki's swearing-in until it could hear a challenge to the process. So although the Senate had acted, the final legal shape of the transition was still unsettled.
The impeachment closes a period of intense infighting that had widened after Gachagua publicly criticized the intelligence chief and blamed the government for mishandling anti-tax protests. Ruto and Gachagua won office together, but the alliance had been breaking down for months. The Senate's vote now turns that political breakup into a formal removal, while the court suspension keeps alive the possibility that the fight is not over yet.
The court suspension means the political fight is not simply over because the Senate voted. Kenya now has one institution saying Gachagua should be removed and another pausing the transfer of power, which is exactly the sort of overlap that can prolong a crisis. That matters because the impeachment was never only about the charges on paper. It was also about the breakup of the Ruto-Gachagua alliance, the anger over protests and the struggle over who controls the presidency's political base. Kindiki's nomination gave Ruto a quick replacement, but the legal pause left the office in suspense. For now, the impeachment has changed the balance of power, yet the final shape of that change still depends on the courts.
What happens in court will decide whether Gachagua's removal is final, but the political damage is already done. The alliance that helped Ruto win power has been publicly broken, and the impeachment vote has turned that split into an institutional crisis. Kenya's next phase is therefore likely to be about repair or consolidation: either the courts slow the transfer and open space for a renegotiation, or the Senate's decision becomes the new normal and Ruto governs with a reshaped top team.
