Waititu’s Farmers Party announces protest to ‘re-install’ Gachagua as DP

The Famers Party has announced it plans to demonstrate towards the official deputy president’s residence in Nairobi’s Karen area on Tuesday and “re-install” Rigathi Gachagua as the country's second-in-command.

This follows the Court of Appeal’s quashing of an October 2024 decision by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu to constitute a three-judge bench to hear a petition challenging Gachagua's impeachment earlier that month.

Famers Party, which last month left President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza alliance, wrote to the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja to request security for the planned demos.

“We the party and members of the public will be holding a peaceful procession tomorrow to the official Deputy President’s residence in Karen to reinstall Rigathi Gachagua as the Deputy President-designate of the Republic of Kenya being the rightful holder of the office,” it said on Tuesday.

It cited their intention as upholding the rule of law and “protecting the sovereign will of the Kenyan people” who elected Gachagua’s Ruto’s running mate in the 2022 general elections.

“We look forward to a peaceful procession with guaranteed security and peace for all those within and around the procession mutes,” added the political outfit.

Gachagua was kicked out of Ruto’s government on October 18 through a Senate impeachment motion after falling out with Ruto. Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki was thereafter installed as his successor.

After a petition challenging the impeachment was lodged, DCJ Mwilu appointed Justices Eric Ogolla, Anthony Mrima, and Freda Mugambi to hear the case.

But Gachagua’s legal team challenged the constitutionality of the move, arguing that only the Chief Justice has the authority to make such appointments. 

In its ruling on Friday, the appellate court further directed that the matter be referred to the Chief Justice, putting to question the legality of ousting Gachagua and appointing Kindiki.

In response, the former DP has said he is confident the courts will grant him justice.

“We have judges of integrity who will give justice not only to Rigathi Gachagua but to the people of Kenya,” Gachagua told a church service in Juja, Kiambu County, on Sunday.

The Farmers Party is led by Ferdinand Waititu, the disgraced former Kiambu governor who himself was impeached in 2020 over Ksh.588 million graft charges that later saw him jailed for 12 years and barred from vying for any political seat for seven years.

In April, the party cited “dishonesty, political infidelity, and outright disregard for both the Constitution of Kenya (2010) and the spirit of our Coalition Agreement” as reasons to exit Kenya Kwanza.