City lawyer Willis Otieno has come up with interesting claims, poking holes in President William Ruto's nomination of Kithure Kindiki as the next Deputy President.
Kindiki was handpicked by the President on Friday, October 18 to take over from Rigathi Gachagua, after a majority of Senators voted in favour of impeaching the former Mathira MP.
The Interior Cabinet Secretary's appointment, however, encountered a stumbling block after the High Court blocked the appointment until the case challenging Gachagua's impeachment was heard. Senate's resolution upholding impeachment charges against Gachagua were subsequently suspended until Oct 24.
Lawyer's take: Amid all that is happening, Willis Otieno is arguing that regardless of what happens to Gachagua after Tuesday's hearing, Kindiki should not be allowed to assume the Office of the Deputy President.
According to Senior Counsel Willis Otieno, Kindiki should have resigned as Interior Cabinet Secretary before he was handpicked by the President.
Further, Otieno says the absence of an electoral body makes it impossible to appoint a Deputy President since the IEBC is required to vet a nominated candidate.
"The nomination of Kithure Kindiki is illegal," Otieno divulged. "The qualifications of becoming a Deputy President as set out in Article 137 has the question of eligibility. One of the agencies to ascertain that a person is eligible to become a Deputy President is IEBC.
"Which IEBC gave Kindiki the green light to be nominated? There is no chairman, there are no commissioners. IEBC as presently constituted does not have the legal mandate to nominate or approve anyone as the Deputy President."
Otieno, who is also the Safina Party's deputy, further stated that the Deputy President's office is technically vacant since one cannot assume office if he is already a state officer.
What the law says: According to Article 137 on the Qualifications and disqualifications for election as President, a person is not qualified for nomination as a presidential candidate if the person owes allegiance to a foreign state is a public officer, or is acting in any State or other public office. The second clause, however, does not apply to a President, a Deputy President or a Member of Parliament.
Meanwhile, the petition challenging Gachagua's impeachment was heard at the Milimani Law Courts on Tuesday.
President William Ruto, on the other hand, has challenged the High Court's powers to hear the petitions challenging Gachagua's impeachment.
The Head of State wants the Supreme Court to take over the matter instead.
