Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua will today know whether he will keep his job when a case challenging the nomination of Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki for the position will be heard.
A three-judge bench composed of justices Eric Ogola, Justice Anthony Mrima and Freda Mugambi directed that the matter filed by David Munyi Mathenge and Peter Gichobi Kamotho in a Kirinyaga court against the Senate Speaker be heard today.
The case was referred to the bench by Kerugoya judge Richard Mwongo, who granted the parties conservatory orders stopping Kindiki from assuming office, pending the hearing.
The bench also ordered that the matter be heard in open court at 11am. “It is hereby ordered that in the light of the urgency of the matter and 0weighty issues raised therein, we direct that the matter be served and responded to forthwith for hearing inter parties” on 22 October,” the judges ruled.
Chief Justice question
The matter came up on the day Gachagua wrote to the Judiciary questioning how the orders from the Kirinyaga court were placed before the three-judge bench without the express directions of Chief Justice Koome.
In the letter, Gachagua claimed that the bench was only formed to hear other petitions consolidated under Nairobi High Court Petition No. 522 of 2024 and not the Kirinyaga petition.
The National Assembly had filed an application calling for the lifting of the conservatory orders on the grounds that the matter had been overtaken by events.
The lawyer, who claimed that their client would be denied a fair trial, requested an investigation to establish how the file (Nairobi High Court Petition No. E565 of 2024) moved from Justice Chacha Mwita’s court to the three judges without express directions from the Chief Justice.
Reads the petition: “There are preliminary indications that the Chief Justice was not even in the country at the material time in question. For this reason, a formal complaint is being filed with the Judicial Service Commission.”
The three-judge bench took over the Kerugoya matter after the National Assembly filed another petition calling for the lifting of orders from the Kerugoya court.
Issue of jurisdiction
In the petition, the House cited public interest in the matter; issues to do with jurisdiction – that courts do not have the right to reinstate a dismissed Cabinet member; and that the matter was filed late and had been overtaken by events.
“The Constitution does not anticipate a dysfunctional Cabinet. Actually, conservatory orders cannot be issued where they are capable of undermining a legitimate constitutional policy of a functioning executive,” says the affidavit.
Kindiki’s swearing-in that was to happen on Saturday was postponed because of several cases filed in courts.
The government had started making preparations to host the event at Uhuru Gardens. The swift moves to swear in Kindiki came after the National Assembly endorsed his nomination by President William Ruto.
Kindiki was supposed to take over from Gachagua after the Senate upheld the impeachment of the DP by the National Assembly. MPs found the DP guilty of five of 11 charges brought against him.
’Failed assassinations’
Today’s hearing comes hours after Gachagua, who had been admitted at Karen Hospital, claimed that his ouster from office was preceded by two failed attempts on his life through food poisoning.
Speaking to the media, Gachagua made the stunning claim that if anything happened to him, President Ruto should be held accountable.
He said he was heading home although he was apprehensive that security officers assigned to guard his residences had been withdrawn.
He said: “I don’t feel safe. On August 30th, undercover police agents in Kisumu entered my room and one of them tried to poison my food, but we detected it and we were able to escape. I was supposed to be killed through poisoning.”
He added: “On September 3rd … NIS [National Intelligence Service] officers came to Nyeri and tried to poison food belonging to me and Kikuyu elders. I reported the matter to NIS and asked the officers assigned to my office to leave. After attempts to assassinate me failed, this impeachment motion was hatched.”
Gachagua maintained that the impeachment process was crafted to hound him out of office for facing his boss and telling him the truth.
He said: “Let the President obey court orders. Through a court order, Rigathi Gachagua is Deputy President. Why doesn’t he have cars? Why doesn’t he have security? Why has his office been made dysfunctional?”