Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has explained his resolve not to back the impeachment motion against former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua sponsored by Kibwezi MP Mwengi Mutuse when it was tabled in the National Assembly.
In the October 2024 vote, 281 MPs voted in support of the ouster motion that saw Gachagua successfully impeached. Babu did not take part in the vote, he skipped all the sessions.
Explaining his decision, the lawmaker said he turned down an offer from unknown persons to vote in favour of the motion, saying there were no justifiable grounds to warrant Gachagua’s impeachment.
Babu argued that the grounds on which the former DP was impeached, including tribalism and corruption, are vices also committed by the same MPs who supported his impeachment.
"I did not vote to impeach Gachagua. I was told to vote. From the way he spoke, genuinely speaking, I did not see his problem anywhere. I am a very just leader. If someone has made a mistake, I say that he has made a mistake. He was being accused of tribalism. Tell me who is not tribal among those leaders. They are all tribal. Is that a mistake? If yes, then all of them were supposed to go," said Babu.
Babu also regretted the move to drag Gachagua’s family and businesses into the impeachment course.
"This is a man, we were being told, that he has companies with his children. You expose a man, you beat him with his wife and his children. We need to respect these families," Babu added.
