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| Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua |
Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has written to the Judiciary protesting against the handling of a petition he filed in court stopping his replacement.
Gachagua whose impeachment was ratified by the Senate on Thursday night moved to the High Court on Friday and secured orders restraining President William Ruto from appointing his replacement until October 24 when the case is to be heard.
Justice Chacha Mwita who issued the orders on Friday said Gachagua’s petition raised weighty issues of law.
He directed that the file be forwarded to Chief Justice Martha Koome to constitute a bench to hear the matter.
Earlier, the CJ had constituted a three-judge bench comprising justices Eric Ogola, Antony Mrima and Frida Mugambi to hear some six consolidated petitions in which Gachagua had sought orders to stop his impeachment process in Parliament.
That application was declined before Gachagua moved to court again after his impeachment to stop his replacement.
The embattled Deputy President is now demanding to know from the High Court registrar how the file that Justice Chacha Mwita directed to be remitted to the Chief Justice found its way before the three-judge bench.
His protest follows new orders issued by Justice Frida Mugambi directing that the petition in which orders were issued stopping Gachagua’s replacement be heard on Tuesday, October 22 and not on Thursday, October 24 as had been directed by Justice Chacha Mwita.
Of concern to Gachagua is that the new orders were issued on a Saturday when courts are not ordinarily sitting.
The government through the Attorney General had sought to have the bench lift the orders stopping Gachagua’s replacement and that the matter be heard sooner than was anticipated.
“We demand to know whether the file was taken to the Chief Justice and at what time. We also want to know whether indeed there are directions recorded in the file constituting the bench which then proceeded to issue directions on Saturday,” Gachagua’s letter to the High Court registrar says.
Two weeks ago when Justice Lawrence Mugambi directed that one of Gachagua’s files be forwarded to the Chief Justice to constitute a bench to hear the case, Gachagua says he received communication from the office of the Chief Justice confirming that the CJ had discharged her mandate and that he was required to appear before the bench.
That communication was not relayed in the latest case, hence the present demand.
“The reason for our demand above is that on Saturday, an application was filed though we were not notified about the bench being constituted, we have now been served with orders issued by a three-judge bench. To the best of our knowledge, this bench (Ogola, Mugambi and Mrima) had only been constituted to hear the other petitions and not the present one.”
Gachagua is protesting that the bench which had initially declined to hear his case on October 18 and not October 29 citing unavailability of a date was able to convene on a Saturday to hear the case by the state.
Gachagua says Saturday is outside the working hours for the Judiciary.
“In a surprising turn of events, the same bench was able to convene hastily on Saturday and issued directions that the state’s application seeking to set aside Justice Chacha Mwita’s conservatory orders be heard on Tuesday, October 22,” he said.
Gachagua also wants to know how the file containing orders stopping his replacement moved from Justice Mwita to the bench.
“In the meantime, we are instructed to request that an investigation be launched to establish how file No E565 of 2024 moved from Justice Chacha to the three judges without the express directions from the Chief Justice,” he said.
“For this reason, a formal complaint is being filed with the Judicial Service Commission,” Gachagua’s letter written by Kamotho Jomo and Advocates reads.
by Peter Obuya