Khalwale kicked out of Senate after claiming Uhuru secured release of activists abducted in Uganda

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale was on Tuesday ejected from the Senate after he refused to withdraw remarks claiming that former President Uhuru Kenyatta intervened to secure the release of two Kenyan activists who were detained in Uganda.

Trouble began when Khalwale drew parallels between Kenyan children reportedly stranded abroad and the detention of the two activists, questioning why it allegedly took the former President - rather than the current one - to intervene.

“The issue of the children who are out of the country is no different from the two Kenyan political activists who were locked up in Uganda for a long time. It disturbs me that it took the intervention of the former President, and not the current President,” said the Senate Majority Whip.

His remarks prompted an immediate objection from Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, who pressed his colleague to substantiate his sentiments with evidence or withdraw them.

“We must stick to the rules, Mr Speaker; when the Senator, a Chief Whip of government, goes out on record and says that the former President intervened for release of Kenyans, can he provide the evidence before this House because we don’t want hearsays from chang’aa drinking dens in Ikolomani coming to Senate. He should take chang’aa and stay there, don’t bring those things here,” Cherargei said.

Senate Speaker Amason Kingi backed the challenge, directing Khalwale to either prove his claim or retract it.

“The point of order is: is that factual? If you cannot provide evidence, you proceed to withdraw and apologise,” Kingi ruled.

But Khalwale pushed back, telling the House that the matter did not require substantiation.

“You should further advise the Senator of Nandi that he is thickets away from my experience in the Parliamentary palace. If he wasn’t, he would know that in this Parliament, a ruling has been made that a member is not expected to substantiate the obvious,” he responded.

With tempers rising, Speaker Kingi repeatedly pressed Khalwale to comply with the Standing Orders, but the Senator stood his ground, stating; “I started this journey of politics at the age of 22. We fought for this Constitution for so long that rather than respond to all things that have been said here, I choose to keep quiet.”

Kingi swiftly rejected the attempt to stay silent, urging the lawmaker to heed his initial request, insisting that staying silent is not an option.

“If you cannot substantiate, the other option is not to keep quiet; keeping quiet is not an option under our Standing Orders. If you cannot substantiate, you proceed to withdraw and apologise,” the Speaker insisted.

Switching to his outspoken nature, the Kakamega legislator cleverly dodged the directive, instead accusing some leaders of attempting to intimidate colleagues during debate.

“This habit of giving the impression that this floor of the House offers an opportunity for intimidation of members during debate actually negates the freedom of speech in the House and as enshrined in the Constitution,” he said.

He went on to challenge Cherargei head-on, claiming he was hiding behind a point of order to deny him freedom of speech.

He said; “If the Nandi Senator is uncomfortable with the factuality of what I am saying, let him express his discomfort and not hide in a point of order. You think my pedigree is someone who does not know the difference between…”

Speaker Kingi interjected, once again, ordering him once more to obey the ruling, but instead Khalwale made one last appeal advocating for freedom of speech: “Kenyans died for freedom of speech, please understand these things that we were there before you were there.”

Kingi then declared that the Senator had failed to substantiate the claim and directed him to exit the House.

“You are choosing to stay silent; therefore, it means you failed to substantiate, and the natural consequence will flow, and I will rule you out of order and ask you to leave the chamber,” the Speaker said.

Kenyan activists Bob Njagi and Nick Oyoo, who encountered a 39-day ordeal in Uganda, claimed they were held incommunicado by the country’s military special forces.

Amnesty International later disclosed that the activists’ release followed high-level negotiations, which included intervention by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“Without the intervention of former President Uhuru Kenyatta, I don’t know if we would have managed,” said Felix Wambua of the Free Kenya Movement.