Pressure continues to pile on Deputy President Kithure Kindiki after the appellate court threw a spanner in the works in the impeachment case of his predecessor, Rigathi Gachagua.
This is after Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka went after Kindiki on Sunday, May 11, as he urged the deputy president to resign following the Court of Appeal's ruling, which effectively cast doubt on the legality of Gachagua's impeachment.
On Friday, May 9, the Court of Appeal found that Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu acted outside her mandate when she assigned judges to listen to petitions regarding Gachagua's ouster.
According to Kalonzo, the appellate court's ruling put the country in a curious situation, asserting that the country had two deputy presidents. He further urged Kindiki to resign to allow for the legal process pertaining to Gachagua's ouster to proceed without hitches.
“We are now in a situation where we have two deputy presidents. Kindiki should respect the process and resign to allow justice to take its course. The recent appellate court decision has exposed the unlawful and political manipulation that was involved in removing Gachagua from office,” Kalonzo said on X, formerly Twitter.
In the judgment on Friday, a panel of three appellate judges ruled that Justice Mwilu had no legal authority to form a bench to preside over the matter, as, according to the constitution, that responsibility lies with the Chief Justice.
At the time the bench was formed, Chief Justice Martha Koome was out of the country, and her deputy ended up appointing Justices Eric Ogola, Antony Mrima, and Freda Mugambi to consolidate multiple petitions related to Gachagua's impeachment. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the CJ could have simply fulfilled her duties remotely, and her absence did not justify Mwilu's appointments.
While the ruling does not necessarily nullify Gachagua's impeachment, it all but resets the whole legal process, as the court ordered the petitions be returned to the Chief Justice, who must then decide whether to assign them to the same judges.
As it stands, CJ Koome can decide to use the same judge's bench selected by her deputy, Mwilu, or she can decide to appoint a new panel or expand the bench altogether.
Ironically, the same Court of Appeal rejected Gachagua’s request to do away with the current judges since they found no grounds to disqualify them.
On Sunday, Gachagua also subtly touched on the latest court ruling while speaking at a church service in Juja as he exuded confidence in the Kenyan justice system.
“The framers of the 2010 Constitution created four levels of judicial intervention—the Magistrate’s Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court. If you don’t get justice on one level, you move to the next. I believe the judiciary will rescue me, and justice will prevail for the people of Kenya,” Gachagua said.
