The Senate will now take up the impeachment case against the deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. This comes after a High Court in Nairobi refused to grant conservatory orders.
Justice Chacha Mwita gave the ruling on Tuesday that gave the go-ahead for the impeachment trial to take place. Gachagua will face the National Assembly at the Senate, where charges against him will be heard.
Gachagua said this was a political witch hunt. He expressed his confidence that justice would prevail by the courts: “I believe justice will prevail,” he said.
On Monday, lawyers for Gachagua, Senior Counsel Paul Muite and lawyer Tom Macharia, requested Justice Mwita to issue orders stopping the impeachment process.
Justice Mwita said that although the constitution gives courts leeway to intervene in cases involving violation of human rights, there is the need for restraint on matters of impeachment. “This process has been committed to Parliament,” he observed.
He insisted on letting the parliamentary process take effect. “There should be a delicate balance in the respective mandates of different arms of government,” Mwita added. “Courts should respect what Parliament is constitutionally required to fulfil.”
The judge referred the matter to Chief Justice Martha Koome and asked her to empanel a bench to handle the weighty constitutional issues raised.
Mwita said the Chief Justice will make a ruling on whether this petition shall be argued before a three-judge bench recently empanelled to deal with earlier challenges on the impeachment process against the Deputy President.
