POLITICS

Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has filed a petition at the Court of Appeal seeking to stop the ongoing proceedings at the High Court while detesting the three-judge bench. Gachagua wants the Appellate Court to issue an injunction stopping the impeachment hearing at the High Court. According to Gachagua through his lawyer John Njomo,the rulings were inaccurate, erroneous and were a misinterpretation of Article 165 (4) of the Constitution. “The applicant contends that the stated ruling is based on not only a misinterpretation of Article 165 (4) of the Constitution but also a violation of Articles 25, 27, 47, 48, 50 (1) and 260 as the Constitution accords the power to empanel and assign judges to only the Chief Justice of Kenya…therefore the DCJ has no power to assign and empanel Judges. That the actions and omissions of the impugned Bench are not only, wrong and unlawful but incorrect, and unprocedural.’’ The petition further argues that if the Court of Appeal fails to rule in his favour, then he would be denied the right to a fair hearing. Moreover, adding that his prayers should be answered so that his appeal does not become null and void. ”That unless the said orders are issued, any delay shall result in irreparable prejudice of the Applicant’s rights to a Fair Trial & Hearing and ultimate loss of the substratum of his Petition E565 of 2024 which shall ultimately render both the intended Appeal herein and the Petition E565 of 2024 a nugatory, superfluous and moot.’’  

Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has recently sent a message to President William Ruto warning him that the Mt Kenya region, where he comes from, will not forget how the impeachment against him was plotted. Speaking during a church service at Saint James ACK Cathedral in Kiambu County, Gachagua  noted that he was sure that the people of the Mt Kenya region will not forget all that happened.  “We forgive but we don’t forget. I’ve heard people saying that 3 years is a lot of time that by 2027, people will have forgotten. Even the atrocities meted on us by the white man, the pain we suffered under President Moi, we still remember. When the time is right, we will address the issue at hand. But at the moment, we will keep quiet.” Rigathi Gachagua appeared much calmer despite the three weeks of intense battles with the National Assembly, the Senate, and now at the High Court.  He further asked Kenyans to pray for the Head of State who he stated has a tough task on his hands. “I want to ask Kenyans to pray for President Ruto to give him wisdom to navigate the challenges affecting Kenyans.’’ The ousted DP also went ahead to name a number of key sectors in the country which Kenyans have been critical of in the last few weeks as he called on the President to correct them. “Our people are feeling helpless because of economic adversities, over-taxation, failing health systems and the President has a big job to do. We pray for God to give him wisdom so the people of Kenya can get some relief when they go about their business.” He was accompanied by a number of his allies during the church service, including his staunch supporter Kiambu Senator Karungo wa Thang’wa.  

The 3-judge bench handling Rigathi Gachagua’s case have refused to recuse themselves from Gachagua’s impeachment case. The three judges included Justice Mugambi, Ogola and Mrima. The judges refused Gachagua’s application to withdraw from the case. Gachagua wanted them to withdraw from the case as he felt there could be some form of biasness. What led to the matter at hand was because Senate speaker Amason Kingi attended Justice Antony’s Mrima’s wedding on the other hand, it was alleged that Justice Ogola’s wife was appointed by President William Ruto. The lawyers representing the judges and the Senate dismissed the claims. They argued that there was no law prohibiting judges from associating with the members of the public. In regard to this, Justice Ogola read the ruling. He said that their ruling was based on four grounds; the concept of recusal in line with the constitution, impartially as a ground for recusal, whether the application met the required threshold for bias and whether the applications were merited. Just as the ruling stated, in accordance to Justice Ogola, the application did not meet the set criteria and was hence dismissed. The judges provided former Deputy President’s lawyer with an opportunity to file amended petitions within five days, same as the respondents. The court will therefore sit on October 29th to deliberate on the applications.