A collage of Deputy President Gachagua and CJ Koome
Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has written to the judiciary challenging how cases challenging his impeachment were placed before a 3-judge bench without concrete direction from Chief Justice Martha Koome.
Through his lawyer John Njomo, the embattled Gachagua wanted to know whether Chief Justice Martha Koome was involved in the selection of an uneven number of judges to determine all petitions challenging the impeachment process, in a letter dated 20th October 2024.
In a letter to the Deputy Registry High Court, Gachagua’s lawyers further questioned why the same three-judge bench that threw out his application for conservatory orders also ‘hastily’ refused to set aside an order barring the Deputy President nominee Kithure Kindiki from taking office.
The letter further accuses the judges of attempting to claim that no open date to hear petitioners’ cases was available until October 29th.
However, when the government came to that very same bench with two new cases, the bench somehow managed to find two days earlier than the 29th they had said they would be available, including a sitting on Saturday the 19th.
“The judges further considered and issued directions in Kerugoya High Court and issued similar directions for hearing on October 22, 2024,” the letter read in part.
Gachagua’s team further said the 3-judge-bench, Justices Eric Ogola, Antony Mrima, and Freda Mugambi, which was constituted to oversee 6 cases are set to work on two more cases on Tuesday, October 22 despite the judges not being constituted to handle the Tuesday cases.
Gachagua’s lawyer argued that this was a well-executed plan to ‘trample the rights of the petitioner’.
The legal team for the impeached Deputy President is certain that CJ Koome was not in the country to give direction on the next course of action by the Judiciary.
His lawyers insist that the impeached DP was denied fair trial right from the National Assembly to the Senate and now the Judiciary.
On Sunday, Gachagua spoke for the first time after his admission to the hospital with chest pains at a time he was to face cross-examination by the counsel of the National Assembly.
During his briefing with the press, the deposed DP declared he will challenge the impeachment in court and called on CJ Koome to ensure justice prevailed.
“I ask the Chief Justice Martha Koome to live true to the fidelity of our Constitution,” he said while insisting that he was denied the chance to be heard by the Senate before his impeachment.
He added: “I requested that according to the rules of natural justice, I be given the opportunity to appear before the Senate. In the National Assembly, I was there and defended myself. In the Senate, I was there day one and I was ready for cross-examination.”
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, who was handpicked by President William Ruto to replace Gachagua, was supposed to be sworn in on October 19, 2024.
However, two petitioners – David Munyi Mathenge and Peter Gichobi Kamotho – moved swiftly to a Kerogoya High Court to stop the swearing-in, suing the Senate and the Speaker of the Senate in the process.
The bigger picture:
As it stands, the odds are heavily against Gachagua as the three-judge bench he is adamantly against is scheduled to hold an inter-partes hearing on Tuesday to consider a suit challenging his impeachment.
