Kenya's Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. | Photo: Courtesy.

Kenya’s High Court has declined to temporarily stop the parliament’s impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over gross violation of the constitution and promotion of ethnically divisive politics.

This comes after his close associates reportedly opened a court case on Monday seeking to have the parliamentary impeachment procedure thrown out.

But High Court Judge Buhati Mwamuye declined the legal challenge and certified the case as urgent, while ordering parties to appear before him on October 10, according to Nation newspaper.

An impeachment motion against Gachagua could be introduced in Parliament in the coming days, after an MP said this week, he had secured enough signatures endorsing the ouster bid.

The lawmakers pushing for the impeachment accuse Gachagua of promoting ethnically divisive politics, undermining the president and having had a role in the anti-government uprising between June and July that saw Parliament overrun, among others.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has recommended the prosecution of four of the DP’s associates, including two Nairobi MPs, with charges related to the uprising, which initially broke out as street protests against tax hikes.

In a statement on September 26, Mr Gachagua dismissed the DCI investigation of his staff and allies as politically instigated, saying it was part of the plot to have him impeached.

To remove the DP from office, at least two-thirds of members in each of the two houses of Parliament — National Assembly and Senate – will be required to vote for the impeachment motion.

The Kenyan parliament last impeached a vice president in 1989 after an MP tabled a vote of no confidence against Dr Josephat Karanja for allegedly undermining then President Daniel arap Moi, according to The East African. Dr Karanja was then forced to resign after only one year and one month in office.