Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

A petition challenging the appointment of Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has been referred to Chief Justice Martha Koome to constitute a Bench to hear the matter.

High Court judge Bahati Mwamuye said the petition, in which an activist is seeking to remove Kindiki, raises weighty issues that need to be handled by a properly constituted bench.

The petition has been filed by Enock Aura through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui.

“Having perused the Amended Petition dated 18 December 2024, I am satisfied that the same raises weighty and substantial issues of constitutional law within the meaning of Article 165, and I hereby certify the amended petition as such… Consequently, this file ought to be placed before the Chief Justice for empanelment”, Mwamuye ruled.

The new directions came up after Aura argued that there must be strict adherence to set constitutional procedures in the appointment of high-ranking government officials. In the 215-page petition, Aura says that Kindiki’s appointment was shrouded in illegalities.

The petition argues that the process leading to Kindiki’s swearing-in on Friday, November 1, 2024, was unconstitutional.

He argues that in the first place, Kindiki was illegally appointed and that his installation into office violates critical provisions of the Kenyan Constitution.

“The entire purported “swearing-in ceremony” of the 10th Respondent (Prof Kindiki) conducted on November 1, 2024, under the watch of the President and Chief Justice of Kenya is null and void ab initio,” he said in the court papers.

Aura is seeking several declarations from the court, including that Kindiki’s appointment as Deputy President was unconstitutional and that he should be prohibited from assuming any powers or duties associated with the office.

He contends that Kindiki did not even appear before the National Assembly at all on October 18, 2024, for the approval hearing of the nomination proceedings and that no report was ever generated by the National Assembly as required under the Public Appointments (Parliamentary Approval) Act.

He also stated that Kindiki had never resigned as the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and that the night-time purported replacement was illegal.