(Bloomberg) -- A Kenyan court rejected a bid to block the appointment of President William Ruto’s new deputy.
A three-judge bench set aside an earlier order that prevented Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki from being sworn in as Kenya’s second-in-command until a court decided whether a decision to impeach Rigathi Gachagua was lawful.
Court orders issued on Oct. 18 suspending Kindiki’s inauguration were “discharged and hereby set aside,” according to Thursday’s ruling.
Gachagua, 59, went to court after the Senate upheld a decision by parliament’s lower house to oust him. He was charged with making inflammatory statements to stir ethnic hatred and undermining the judiciary, has denied wrongdoing.
His impeachment was the first of a deputy president since the adoption of a new constitution in 2010.
The ruling allows Ruto to consolidate his power base at a time when his administration is trying to reassert its authority after at least 60 people died during public protests against planned tax increases earlier this year. It also enables the administration to focus on efforts to bring runaway state debt under control and plug a $2.7 billion budget hole that emerged after the government backtracked on some of its revenue plans.
An ally of Ruto, Kindiki was appointed deputy president in a unanimous vote by lawmakers. The deputy president serves as Ruto’s principal assistant and chairs a forum that brings together the nation’s 47 counties and the national government.
(Updates throughout with details)
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