A means to an…impeachment?

Members of parliament have started the process of removing the deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, from office.

He’s accused of having a role in the anti-finance bill demonstrations, involvement in corruption, undermining government and promoting ethnically divisive politics.

Multiple efforts to stop the impeachment attempt through the courts failed and on Tuesday, the speaker of the National Assembly allowed the impeachment proceedings to begin after a motion to start things off was backed by 291 MPs, way over the threshold of the 117 MPs required.

However, many of the young people who were at the forefront of the protests dismiss suggestions that Gachagua and his allies were behind it, and see the bid by lawmakers to oust him as an attempt to deflect attention from bad governance. They say that if the deputy goes, then the president must go too.

The impeachment itself is expected to sail through both houses of parliament, after the main opposition joined forces with the president's party following the recent protests.

The power struggle between the president and his deputy has led to concerns of instability at the heart of government, at a time when Kenya is in a deep economic and financial crisis.

Interior Secretary Kithure Kindiki appears to be taking on some of the deputy president's responsibilities.

Like Gachagua, Kindiki comes from Mount Kenya - the region which forms the largest voting block in Kenya.

Dozens of legislators have rallied behind Kindiki as the region’s preferred “mouthpiece", intensifying speculation that they are pushing for him to succeed Gachagua.

That has left the deputy president largely isolated with only a handful of elected politicians backing him.

But one man might still extend him a renewed lease of political life - the president.