Kibwezi West MP Mutuse Mwengi tabling his impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (inset) at the National Assembly in Nairobi on October 8, 2024.
Today, I want to tell you why Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was impeached, and why the Senate will confirm his permanent political death. The reason isn’t what you think I am thinking. For this one, I ask you to think not outside the box, but against the box. That’s why this Sunday I won’t even consult my famous – some of you think infamous – crystal ball.
To understand my point, don’t think of politics as a completely rationale enterprise. Please, whatever you do, don’t conflate impeachment with a judicial process. It’s a purely political exercise. Although they have some jurisdiction post-conviction by the Senate, the courts should stay clear of this one. Now, let me tell you why Mr Gachagua was guillotined.
In a democracy, of which Kenya is an incipient variant, politics can be loud and messy. It’s in that mess where democracy finds its genius as a governing ideology. After all, it was Sir Winston Churchill, the British imperialist, who opined that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all others.”
Democracy
He meant that although democracy isn’t perfect, it still trumps all other systems such as rule by monarchy, the military, oligarchy, kleptocracy, and other murderous and evil forms. Of course, democracies are run by actual, breathing fallible people called politicians within the strictures of the rule of law and separation of powers. I want to focus now on those “fallible” people and how they get there.
There are some basic ingredients in the kitchen of democracy.
These include first and foremost, money. If you are penniless and have no other social currency, forget it. Other tools in the democratic kit are propaganda and snake oil. But none of the above are as powerful as Emotional Intelligence (EQ), a natural gift that’s different from Intelligence Quotient (IQ), which is a measure of the superiority of a human brain.
The most fortunate politicians are endowed with both IQ and EQ. But these are a tiny minority. Most people with a high IQ are nerdy know-it-alls, a character trait that’s insufferable and utterly alienating. Your raw smarts can’t even get you the girl. You need EQ for that unless you’ve lots of moolah that can “buy” whatever you want.
Let me get back to Mr Gachagua before I bore you. By all accounts, Deputy President Gachagua – soon to be Mr Gachagua – is a tenacious man. He’s a former District Officer under the reign of the Daniel Moi-Kanu kleptocracy. District officers were the enforcers of the brutal one-party state. There have been some allegations about how he exited the job. However, what’s remarkable is that Mr Gachagua, a little-known one-term MP from Mathira, bargained his way to become then Deputy President William Ruto’s running mate in the 2022 elections.
Meteoric rise
That meteoric rise is stupefying and mindboggling. How he rose to become deputy president is a story for another day. What’s true is that he beat heavyweights to get there. He’s turned out to be a poisoned chalice for President Ruto.
It's clear to me by watching Mr Gachagua that he’s not a stupid man. But the man from Mathira utterly lacks the basic tools of self-reflection and self-criticism. He’s probably the most self-conceited man in Kenyan politics.
A man who’s totally blinded by his own self-importance. He believes every word that comes out of his mouth. But if he looked in the mirror and examined his thoughts before uttering them, he wouldn’t be very happy with himself. He strikes first and thinks, or not, later.
I have carefully gone through all the grounds on which the National Assembly impeached Mr Gachagua. They are solid and impeccable. Those grounds are a natural result of his character as a person. They are unarguable and irrefutable, even in a court of law. My argument, however, is that the legal and political grounds for Mr Gachagua’s impeachment were simply the icing on the cake.
Politicians who rely on money, connections, and IQ to get elected – but have no EQ – can’t survive the guillotine when matters turn topsy-turvy. When you are cornered and face political death, you must engage your EQ. That’s because politics in the end is about relatability and likeability above all else – being human.
Politics gives you fame, power, and riches in Africa. Don’t let all these outward manifestations of opulence and importance go to your head. Remain humble and relatable.
Act like the guy or girl next door with whom you can have a beer or coffee. I have a feeling that with all the malfeasance he was impeached for, Mr Gachagua did himself no favours by appearing arrogant and dismissive of his boss President Ruto and MPs. For these reasons, the Senate will similarly act without pity.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua
