High Court on Wednesday issued orders in line with a petition challenging the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua after a group of lawyers moved to court to challenge the ouster by the Senate.
City lawyer Steven Mbugua jointly filed a petition with the Gema Watho Association challenging the impeachment of the embattled outgoing deputy president.
Justice Bahati Mwamuye received the petition and classified it as urgent, pending mention scheduled for October 25.
Subsequently, Justice Mwamuye ordered Mbugua and his fellow petitioners to serve all the respondents and interested parties, issuing a tight deadline of end of the day on Wednesday, October 23.
The judge also directed all the parties to file their affidavits in regard to the case.
‘’The petitioners/applicants are to serve the petition, application, and these directions on the respondents and interested party by close of business 23/10/2024, and file an affidavit(s) of service in that regard,’’ Mwamuye directed.
The petition filed at the Milimani High Court in Nairobi listed the National Assembly Speaker and the Senate Speaker as respondents as well as other interested parties including the Office of the Attorney General.
‘’A petition we jointly filed with the Gema Watho Association challenging the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua has been considered as urgent and listed for further directions on 25th October 2024 before Justice Bahati,’’ Mbugua revealed.
The case is expected to attract of lot of legal interest since the government is determined to settle the impeachment debate by having the Office of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General challenge the matter in court.
Meanwhile, the three-bench judge at the High Court consisting of Justices Eric Ogola, Antony Mrima and Freda Mugambi, is expected to give a ruling on a separate case touching on Gachagua today at 3 pm.
The three will rule as to whether they will continue sitting and presiding on the impeachment case after his legal team objected to the decision of Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu empaneling the bench.
Separately, Gachagua through his lawyer John Njomo wrote a letter to the Judiciary demanding to know whether Chief Justice Martha Koome was involved in the selection of an uneven number of judges to determine all petitions challenging the impeachment process in a letter dated October 20, 2024.
