 |
| Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua |
It is now a matter of hours before the country’s attention turns to the Senate, where Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment proceedings will be finalised. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (pictured) will be facing the senators on his impeachment starting this Wednesday. The upper house, under Speaker Amason Kingi, convenes its special plenary sessions starting Wednesday, October 16, when the charges against Gachagua, and his responses to them, will be examined in detail. Why should Gachagua resign? The sessions will continue after the High Court in Nairobi refused to grant Gachagua’s prayers to stop the Senate from carrying on with the trial.
In light of the court developments, lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi now counsels Gachagua to consider giving up the seat to salvage his political career, given that impeached people in Kenya are barred from holding public office. According to Ahmednasir, Gachagua now has a short ‘grace period’ to save himself politically; his belated resignation mid-trial would not stop the impeachment process. The only cure in the face of the impeachment, the lawyer says, is the deputy president respectfully resigning. “Hon. Rigathi Gachagua has a very short window to resign. If he wants to have a new lease of life in politics, he must resign before the impeachment motion kicks off in the Senate.
If he tries to resign midstream when the impeachment process is in motion and evidence is tabled and prosecuted by the representatives of the National Assembly, the Senate will not stop the process. It will continue and render judgment, his belated resignation, not withstanding. So, in my respectful view. He must resign by lunchtime tomorrow, at the latest,” observed Ahmednasir. The lawyer suggested that Gachagua has slim chances in the Senate, arguing that the court’s decision has compounded his situation. Why Gachagua wanted Senate proceedings stopped The deputy president had moved to the High Court seeking interim orders halting his trial at the Senate.
In his petition, Gachagua argued that the National Assembly had violated his constitutional rights and that only the court could save him from impeachment. Through his legal team, he stated that the resolution passed by the National Assembly is invalid on several grounds, and the impeachment motion is replete with general and unsupported allegations. How Justice Chacha Mwita ruled in Gachagua’s case Milimani Law Courts presiding judge, Chacha Mwita, declined to grant the orders Gachagua’s legal team requested. Justice Mwita said the courts have no powers to supervise decisions, including impeachment, made by quasi-judicial bodies such as the National Assembly and the Senate. Some of the petition’s respondents, including the Senate, had argued that the court had no jurisdiction since the matter in question stemmed from a constitutional process.
In his ruling, Justice Mwita declined to stop the proceedings, stating that the Senate must be allowed to carry out its function. He reasoned that the constitution has delegated the impeachment process to Parliament, and the court must refrain from meddling with it. Meanwhile, it is all systems go at the Senate, where Gachagua’s fate will be determined. On Monday, October 14, the parties availed their loads of materials ahead of the plenary sessions. Witnesses fronted by the National Assembly are also expected to take the stand to give their accounts.
by Kai Eli
