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Kenyan MPs vote to impeach deputy president

Published

2 months ago

October 9, 2024

The Senate will now be able to consider the impeachment petition of Kenya’s deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, who is accused of inciting ethnic hate and profiting himself following a vote by the parliament on Tuesday.

“According to the results … of the motion that I’ve just declared, a total of 281 members being more than two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly have voted in support of the motion,” Moses Wetang’ula said.

Gachagua, who has refuted all of the allegations, supported President William Ruto in his bid to win the 2022 election and assisted in obtaining a substantial portion of the vote from the popular central Kenya region.

However, he has mentioned being sidelined in recent months, and there have been numerous rumours in the local media claiming that he and Ruto had fallen out as a result of shifting political allegiances.

Following countrywide demonstrations over unpopular tax increases in June and July that resulted in the deaths of over fifty people, Ruto fired the majority of his cabinet and appointed members of the main opposition.

Gachagua asked lawmakers to “search your conscience” before casting a ballot on Tuesday night.

“If you search your conscience and listen to the issues that have been raised and you find that there are no grounds to impeach the deputy president of Kenya, please make the right decision.”

Parliamentarians voted 281 times in favour of impeaching him, 44 against, and 1 abstention. The majority leader of the legislature, Kimani Ichung’wah, declared that the 59-year-old lawmaker had “violated not one, but eight provisions of our constitution.”

He described Rigathi as “a great danger to our nationhood, a great danger to the unity of our republic” and led lawmakers in a chant during the proceedings that said, “Rigathi must go.”

Declaring his innocence, Gachagua provided a thorough refutation of the accusations, which included encouraging “ethnic balkanization” and accumulating a vast portfolio of mysterious properties.

“I will fight to the end,” he told a press conference on the eve of the impeachment proceedings.

Related Topics:Featured Kenya Rigathi Gachagua

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Ivory Coast to create $500 million green financing fund

Published

6 days ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Ivory Coast will establish a $500 million green financing fund to assist sustainable growth, the IMF said.

Africa’s 54 countries have been worst hit by climate change, although emitting less pollution than developed nations. They get only 1% of yearly global climate financing.

The African Green Banks Initiative aims to develop a $1.5 billion ecosystem of green investment facilities by 2030, including Ivory Coast’s new facility.

The Global Environment Facility, the Green Climate Fund, the Ivory Coast government, multilateral development banks, development finance organisations, and possible private sources will all contribute to the facility’s capitalisation.

The leading cocoa-growing country in the world, West Africa, has been drafting new legislation to help other green finance projects, such as a body to regulate carbon credit management.

The consequences of climate change have disproportionately affected Africa, making cyclones, floods, and droughts worse in recent years.

A 30-month, $1.3 billion loan agreement for Ivory Coast under the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility was authorised by the executive board in March.

According to the IMF, the funding agreement will help the Abidjani administration implement its pledge to lessen the negative consequences of climate change.

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1,172 Nigerians killed, over 1,000 kidnapped in nine months— NHRC

Published

1 week ago

November 14, 2024

Isaac Dachen

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has put the figures of Nigerians killed and kidnapped by non-state actors from January to September 2024, at 1,172 and 1,463 respectively.

A new data released on Wednesday by the organization reveal that the month of May saw the 298 persons killed, making it the highest, while March recorded the highest number of abductions with 499 kidnappings.

These data which was presented at a workshop on the state of human rights in Nigeria by the commission and the European Union, in Abuja, attributed the rise in kidnappings, killings and child abandonment in Nigeria to the negligence and failure of the state to protect its citizens.

While presenting the data, NHRC Senior Human Rights Adviser, Hillary Ogbonna, gave a breakdown of what he described as the alarming rise in human rights abuses, including kidnappings, killings and child abandonment.

“By January 2024, we already had 150 kidnappings and 55 killings associated mainly with non-state actors. What has become the norm is the killing of law enforcement officers,” Ogbonna said.

“We started with seven policemen killed in January. From victims’ perspectives, we had quite a number of victims for human rights violations for January.”

Also speaking at the event, the NHRC Executive Secretary in Nigeria, Tony Ojukwu, said:

“In recent years, we have witnessed alarming trends and threats against those who dare to speak the truth to power.

“It serves as a stark reminder that the protection of human rights is an ongoing struggle that requires continuous vigilance, action and cooperation from all sectors of the society,” Ojukwu said.

A delegation from the EU which also made a presentation, reiterated its commitment to support Nigeria to overcome these challenges, while urging the Federal Government to work with the armed forces to end this trend.

“The European Union will continue to work around the world through diplomacy,” the Head of EU Delegation, Zissimos Vergos, said.h