Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has written to the Judiciary protesting against the handling of a petition he filed in court seeking to stop his impeachment proceedings. Gachagua, whose ouster was ratified by the Senate on Thursday night, moved the High Court on Friday and secured orders restraining President William Ruto from appointing his replacement until 24 October when the case is to be heard.
Justice Chacha Mwita issued the orders, saying Gachagua’s petition had raised weighty issues of law and directed that the file be forwarded to Chief Justice Martha Koome to constitute a bench to hear the matter.
Early Monday, CJ Martha Koome constituted a three-judge bench comprising Justices Eric Ogola, Antony Mrima and Frida Mugambi to hear the application which has been consolidated with five other petitions seeking orders to stop his (Rigathi’s) impeachment process in Parliament.
That application was declined before Gachagua moved to court again after his impeachment to stay the process of installing his replacement.
In a letter to the Judiciary’s Chief Registrar, Gachagua is now demanding to know how the file from Mwita found its way before the three-judge bench, Justice Frida Mugambi issuing orders that the petition in which orders were issued stopping Gachagua’s replacement be now heard on Tuesday, 22 October and not on Thursday, 24 October as had been directed by 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 reads.
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 Koome 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 18 October citing unavailability of a date was able to convene on a Saturday to hear the case by the state, arguing 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.”
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.
“For this reason, a formal complaint is being filed with the Judicial Service Commission.”
