Embattled Rigathi Now Seeks To Block Senate From Impeachment Hearing

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has pleaded with the court to stop his scheduled impeachment motion at the Senate, alluding to being witchhunted.

High Court Judge Chacha Mwita certified the matter urgent and ordered the petition to be heard on Monday.

DP Gachagua was hounded out of office by the National Assembly, who voted overwhelmingly for his ouster.

He therefore moved to the high court where he has pleaded with the court to issue a conservatory order prohibiting the Senate as a whole from proceeding with the impeachment hearing scheduled for 16th, 17th and 18th October 2024 on the basis of the resolution passed by the National Assembly on 8th October 2024 founded on the notice of motion dated 26th September 2024 concerning the proposed removal of the Deputy President Hon. Rigathi Gachagua from office by impeachment.

Through Senior counsel Paul Muite, Gachagua want the court to restrain the Senate as a whole from admitting, processing, debating or in any other manner whatsoever considering the Motion for the proposed removal of Gachagua from office by impeachment founded on the notice of motion to the National Assembly dated 26/09/2024 pending hearing and determination.

“This court has jurisdiction under Article 23 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, to consider and issue remedies in the nature of conservatory orders in appropriate and deserving cases,” says Gachagua

The motion dated 26th September 2024 was tabled in the National Assembly of Kenya on 1st October 2024, proposing the removal of the office of the Deputy President.

The National Assembly resolved to allow the motion on 8th October 2024 at approximately 9 pm. On that very night, the Clerk of the National assembly sent the Clerk of the Senate communication titled Resolution of the National Assembly on a special motion on the removal from office by impeachment of the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

The said resolution transmitted to the Clerk of the Senate by the Clerk of the National Assembly is invalid on the grounds that the impeachment motion is replete with general unsupported allegations, hearsay and outright lies and lacks the particularization and specificity required by Article 145(1) of the Constitution of Kenya and Standing Order 64(1A) of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly.

The National Assembly did not conduct a constitutionally compliant public participation exercise prior to passing the impeachment motion on 8th October 2024. The impeachment motion does not meet the threshold test set by Article 145(1) and Wambora Appeal 1.

The appropriate standard of proof was neither considered nor met when the National Assembly passed the impeachment resolution.

Members of parliament debated and voted on the motion on grounds other than those set out in the motion. The impeachment was converted into a vicarious assault on family rather than investigation of constitutional violations by a public servant. Members of parliament were subjected to intimidation and undue influence prior to and during the hearing of the motion.

The entire impeachment process has been designed to avoid and be ringfenced from judicial scrutiny and accountability. The process has been attended by uncharacteristic speed with the intention of ramming the process through before it can be audited for constitutional compliance.

The National Assembly prosecuted proceedings on the basis that the Petitioner offended the President rather than the Constitution and the law. The object of the impeachment exercise appears to have been to please the President rather than examine fidelity to the Constitution of Kenya.