Gachagua writes protest letter to Judiciary ahead of ruling Tuesday

A three-judge bench is expected to rule on Tuesday on the legality of impeaching and replacing Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

Judges Eric Ogola, Antony Mrima and Freda Mugambi will hear an application challenging an order barring the swearing-in of Prof. Kithure Kindiki as the Deputy President.

Kindiki was last Friday nominated to fill the vacancy and in a rushed process endorsed and gazetted by the National Assembly on the same day.

Gachagua had made numerous unsuccessful attempts to stop the impeachment process, with at least 26 cases filed in court.

Unfair Trial

Meanwhile, Gachagua has written to the Judiciary requesting an investigation into how one of the cases challenging his impeachment was assigned to the judges without explicit direction from the Chief Justice.

In a six-page letter to the Deputy Registrar of the High Court, Gachagua, through his lawyer John Njomo, says it appears there is a coordinated plan to undermine his rights by denying him a fair trial.

He argues the jurisdiction of the Chief Justice is being usurped, as one of the cases challenging his impeachment was moved from Justice Chacha Mwita to a three-judge bench without the express direction of Koome.

The legal team further asserts that the three-judge bench was constituted to oversee six cases and is set to address two more on Tuesday, October 22, despite not being appointed to handle those cases.

The judges are also accused in the letter of stating there was no open date to hear the petitioners’ cases until October 29.

However, when the government approached the same bench with two new cases, it managed to find availability for hearings before the 29th, including a sitting on Saturday, October 19.