Gachagua Skips DCI Summons Despite Appearing In Court Over Impeachment Case
Gachagua was meant to honour the summons issued to him by the investigative agency 24 hours ago, requiring him to appear at the Mazingira Complex today, October 22, 2024
Marvin Chege 
Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was a no-show at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Kiambu Road headquarters, where he was to record a statement following claims he made of two attempts to poison him in Kisumu and Nyeri.
Gachagua was meant to honour the summons issued to him by the investigative agency 24 hours ago, requiring him to appear at the Mazingira Complex today, October 22, 2024, to formally record his statement to enable prompt and thorough investigations into the matter.
Addressing the press outside Karen Hospital on Sunday, October 20, Gachagua claimed that " On 30th August in Kisumu, undercover agents entered my room and bugged it. One of them tried to poison my food but we detected and we were able to escape the scheme," he stated. "I was supposed to be killed through poisoning."
"In Nyeri, another team from NIS (National Intelligence Service) also came and tried to poison food that was meant for me and the Kikuyu Council of Elders. I did report this matter to the NIS and the officers who were assigned to my office I asked them to leave because I felt I was not safe."
Security at DCI headquarters, including water cannons, as of October 22, 2024. /VIRAL TEA KE
The DCI in a statement termed the allegations as serious, coming from a person of his stature and could not be taken lightly. Over the seriousness of the matter, the DCI requested, in kind, for Gachagua's presence. However, he did not show up.
Earlier, security was heightened to the point that several police officers and two water cannons were deployed near the main gate to deal with any disturbances that might have resulted from Gachagua’s expected visit, and by disturbances we mean a huge crowd of his supporters who would have flocked to the front gate of DCI HQ to catch a glimpse of him entering and exiting the complex.
By Tuesday evening, however, Gachagua had not gone to the DCI’s offices. A senior official at the headquarters who spoke to NTV revealed that they had prepared to receive Gachagua, but he had not turned up.
“Those allegations he made were very serious and we want to get to the bottom of the matter. However, he did not show up and this will stall our investigations. Nevertheless, it was not a summon, so it is within his right to decide to come or not,” he said.
Rather than honour the summons, Gachagua spent most of the day at the Milimani Law Courts, closely following the proceedings of a case pitting him against the state before a three-judge bench of the High Court, where he is actively fighting his impeachment as the country’s second-in-command.
The lawyers held their ground, and led by Senior Counsel Paul Muite, they protested the appointment of the bench by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, to determine the applications filed by the Attorney-General and Parliament.
Before the matter was heard, Muite informed Justices Eric Ogola, Anthony Mrima and Fridah Mugambi that they were appearing “under protest” because they were not told how the bench was appointed to determine the cases.
Lawyer Kibe Mungai submitted that by sitting on Saturday to consider the applications by the National Assembly and the Attorney General, the courts were behaving pre-2010 constitution.
“We do not trust that the Chief Justice (Martha Koome) could do that (appoint the bench) because when she makes such an appointment, it has to be in writing. We expected a notification that these judges have been appointed and will be sitting to give directions on such a date. This did not happen,” he submitted.
Justice Mrima then explained to the parties that the bench was picked by DCJ Mwilu, who directed the matter to be handled by the judges. “The applications were filed online and we gave directions for the matters to be mentioned today for further directions,” he explained.
But lawyer Ndegwa Njiru for Gachagua said the powers of the CJ to appoint a bench is substantive and not administrative and, hence cannot be shared with the DCJ. “And because the power cannot be shared with the DCJ, we must move the court to set aside the orders,” he argued.
The lawyer said it was their understanding that it is the Chief Justice alone who can empanel a bench. “Where did the DCJ get the powers? We must hear these applications before we go to the root of the matter,” he challenged.
The three-judge bench is expected to rule tomorrow, Wednesday, October 23 at 3 pm whether to recuse themselves from three cases assigned to them by DCJ Mwilu.
