Digital warfare: Inside Raila’s plot to ‘remove President Ruto from power’
Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Coalition aims to collect 10 million signatures from Kenyans in an effort to remove President William Ruto and his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, from office.
To do this, the opposition coalition, under the leadership of Raila Odinga has launched a new website, tumechoka.net, which they said is a citizen’s initiative towards that end.
The website’s landing page prompts users to key in their personal details with a message that reads:
“Having read and understood the intention of the promoters of this initiative, I hereby support the Citizens’ Initiative to remove from office Mr William Ruto as President and Mr Rigathi Gachagua as Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya.”
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The biodata that users are required to key is the national identification number, first and last name, county, constituency and ward they come from with the phone number being optional.
According to the Citizens’ Initiative manifesto, collecting these signatures is in pursuit of the provisions of Article 1 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, which states that “All sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya and shall by exercised only in accordance with this Constitution’ and ‘The people may exercise their sovereign power either directly or through their democratically elected representatives.”
Should one sign and consent to the Initiative, the following will be what they agree with:
“Therefore, I support the citizens’ initiative to remove from office Mr William Ruto as the President of the Republic of Kenya and Mr Rigathi Gachagua as the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya, which positions the said two have usurped and occupied in violation of the Constitution of Kenya, and have proceeded to impose high, oppressive, insensitive and punitive taxes on the people of Kenya without the peoples’ representation.
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“They have also been running the affairs of the Republic like a shareholders’ company. Exercising my sovereignty under Article 1 directly, I also hereby authorize and support a forensic audit of the 2022 presidential elections pursuant to Article 88 (4) (h) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. Further, exercising my constitutional rights, I also support the citizens’ pursuit for self-determination or secession. I undertake to recruit as many other citizens as possible to support this initiative; As a registered voter, I therefore freely and willingly authorize the use of my name as a supporter of this initiative.”
However, according to the Constitution of Kenya, the only way a sitting President can be removed from office is either through impeachment whereby two thirds of all members of the Senate vote to uphold any impeachment office or can be impeached through grounds of incapacity if all members of the National Assembly vote in favor of ratifying such a report.
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