The High Court in Nairobi on Thursday declined to issue orders stopping public participation in a motion tabled before the National Assembly that seeks to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
In its directive, the court besides certifying the petition as urgent, ordered the parties involved to appear before it on October 10 for further directions on the matter.
“The Application dated 02/10/2024 shall mentioned on 09/10/2024 virtually to confirm compliance and to take directions on the expedited hearing and determination of the matter,” the court directed.
“The Court may on that day issue such interim conservatory orders or further directions as shall be deemed just, fit, and proper to issue pending the hearing and determination of the matter,” the notice read further.
DP Rigathi Gachagua during the launch of the second Information Systems at KICC on September 2, 2024.
DPPS
The directive comes hours after the deputy president moved to court seeking conservatory orders to stop his impeachment. Gachagua through his lawyers, claimed that the motion to impeach him was founded on deceit and misrepresentation of material facts.
The second in command in his petition criticised the National Assembly for allocating minimal time for public participation which he termed as grossly insufficient to facilitate any meaningful and reasonable public engagement.
He also accused the National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula and his deputy Gladys Boss Shollei of bias after they declared how they would like Gachagua’s impeachment to go.
Gachagua argued the motion to impeach him was politically orchestrated and designed to defeat the sovereign will of the Kenyan people.
“The intended impeachment process against me essentially seeks to overturn the sovereign will of the majority of Kenyans who voted for me to be the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya,” Gachagua claimed in his petition.
According to the deputy president, impeachment is a very serious undertaking that should be conducted within the conditional provisions and parliamentary rules of procedure.
This is the fourth time that the courts have declined to issue orders stopping the impeachment motion against the embattled deputy president. The latest court directive follows three similar petitions filed in the last one week to stop Gachagua’s ouster.
On September 30, a petition to stop the DP’s impeachment failed after a 3-judge bench of the Constitutional Division of the High Court declined to issue interim orders.
The petition was filed by a Kenyan against the Senate and National Assembly and sought to stop the impeachment process. However, the court declined to issue orders and directed the parties in the case to appear before it for mention on October 10.
Entrance to Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi.
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The Judiciary of Kenya.
