Khalwale Ejected From Senate After Clash Over Mudavadi-Related Remarks
What began as a routine Senate sitting on Tuesday quickly descended into a shouting match that ended with Kakamega Senator Boniface Khalwale being ejected from the chamber after defying orders from Speaker Amason Kingi.
The confrontation erupted after Khalwale appeared to take a swipe at Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi. While raising concerns about Kenyan children reportedly stranded abroad, the Senator drew parallels to two political activists previously detained in Uganda—suggesting that their release required intervention from a former president rather than the current administration.
“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,” Khalwale said.
The remarks immediately drew fire from Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, who challenged the claim and insisted the House could not entertain unverified allegations.
“We must stick to the rules, Mr Speaker,” Cherargei said. “When the Senator goes on record and says the former President intervened for the 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 the Senate.”
Speaker Kingi upheld the challenge and instructed Khalwale to either substantiate his statement or withdraw it.
“If you cannot provide evidence, you proceed to withdraw and apologise,” the Speaker ruled.
But Khalwale refused to budge, insisting that some matters were so widely known that they did not require proof.
“You should further advise the Senator of Nandi that he is thickets away from my experience in the Parliamentary palace… a member is not expected to substantiate the obvious,” he said.
Tensions escalated as Kingi repeatedly called on him to comply with the Standing Orders. Khalwale eventually said he would “choose to keep quiet” rather than respond further—an option the Speaker immediately rejected.
“If you cannot substantiate, the other option is not to keep quiet; keeping quiet is not an option under our Standing Orders,” Kingi warned.
Instead of backing down, Khalwale accused some Senators of using points of order to intimidate colleagues and stifle 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,” he argued. He added that Cherargei was “hiding behind procedure” instead of addressing the substance of his remarks.
After several rounds of back-and-forth, and with Khalwale still refusing to substantiate or withdraw his comments, Kingi delivered his final ruling.
“You are choosing to stay silent; therefore, it means you failed to substantiate, and the natural consequence will flow… I will rule you out of order and ask you to leave the chamber,” he said.
Khalwale was then ordered out of the Senate.
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Khalwale Ejected From Senate After Clash Over Mudavadi-Related Remarks
