We Have the Numbers to Impeach You, Kimunya Warns Deputy President William Ruto

A section of MPs led by National Assembly Majority Leader Amos Kimunya has threatened to impeach Deputy President William Ruto.

Addressing the press at Parliament buildings, the MPs warned that they are ready to remove Ruto from office if he maintains his defiance against President Kenyatta.

Kimunya said the outcome of Thursday night’s vote on the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, is a clear demonstration that they have the numbers required to impeach the deputy president.

“We hope that with Thursday’s vote, the question of who has the numbers has been settled forever,” Kimunya said.

The National Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly passed the Bill with 235 out of the 320 MPs who participated in the voting during the Second Reading supporting it. 83 voted against it while two others abstained.

224 members voted in the support of the Bill, 63 against, while two abstained during voting in the Third Reading.

A majority of MPs who voted to shoot down the Bill are allied to Ruto while those who endorsed are associates of President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

Interestingly, some of the MPs allied to Ruto, including Kimani Ngunjiri (Bahati), Feisal Bader (Msambweni), Khatib Mwashetani (Lunga Lunga), Charity Kathambi (Njoro), and David Sankok (Nominated), endorsed the Bill.

Kimunya, who was flanked by Jubilee Party parliamentary secretary Adan Keynan, Majority Whip Emmanuel Wangwe, and Minority Whip Junet Mohamed, asked Ruto to toe the line or risk being thrown out through a no-confidence motion.

“Those who have been promised wheelbarrows in future must read the mood. The ground is solidly behind the President. We hope their leader has seen the light and will stop defying the President,” he said.

“If he [Ruto] continues with his defiance, these numbers give us the confidence and we could escalate things to the next step (impeachment). We have the numbers.”

Junet Mohamed said: “We are merely being magnanimous. These numbers can lead to other things. They can make somebody lose his job as provided for in the constitution. But we don’t want to take that route. We are focusing on peacebuilding.”