High Court Blocks Two Attempts To Stop Gachagua From Being Impeached

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's hopes of having an impeachment motion against him blocked by the courts hit a hurdle after the High Court refused to issue interim orders to stop his impeachment motion from being presented in Parliament.

The High Court has recently declined to issue interim orders, the second one on Monday, September 30, after a lobby group moved to court to stop the impeachment set to be tabled before Parliament on Tuesday, October 1.

Judge Mwita declined to answer the petitions by the Sheria Mtaani group and instead deferred the motion for a later hearing date on October 9, 2024.

Earlier on Monday, the High Court declined to issue interim orders to stop the impeachment, and High Court Judge Bahati Mwamuye refused to give an interim order after Gachagua allies led by former United Democratic Alliance Secretary General Cleophas Malala moved to court on Monday.

Malala and his team filed the petition seeking the court to halt the tabling and subsequent debate of the impeachment before the National Assembly.

''Before this Court is the Certificate of Urgency dated 30/09/2024 signed by the Counsel Peter Mwenda Njagi, the Chamber Summons dated 30/09/2024, and the Supporting Affidavit of the Petitioner/Applicant, Cleophas Wakhungu Malalah, dated 30/09/2024; all of which were filed. alongside a Petition dated 30/09/2024,'' part of the petition by Malala before the court read.

According to Malala, both the National Assembly and the Senate lacked the required two-thirds gender rule threshold and therefore breached the Constitutional provisions.

He, through his lawyer Mwenda Njagi therefore wanted the court to grant orders to stop the tabling, debating, considering, or acting upon any motion for the removal or levying of sanctions against the DP.

''The basis advanced by the Petitioner/Applicant is that the 1st and 2nd Respondents, the National Assembly and the Senate respectively, are allegedly unconstitutional in terms of their composition due to an alleged failure by the respondents (National Assembly and Senate), jointly and severally, to meet theconstitutional requirements regarding the 'no more than two-thirds gender rule' set out under Article 27(8) and Article 81(b) of the Constitution,'' the court documents added.

Judge Mwamuye, however, cited the matter as urgent and directed the petitioner(Malala) to serve the National Assembly and the Senate together with other interested parties by the close of business on September 30, 2024. 

''The Petitioner/Applicant shall serve the Chamber Summons, the Petition, and this Court Order on the Respondents and the Interested Parties by close of business today, 30/09/2024, and file an Affidavit(s) of Service in that regard by end of day 30/09/2024.''

The respondents and the interested parties have until October 3, 2024, to respond to the issues leveled against them and serve the court with the same response.  The case will be mentioned before the High Court on October 7, 2024, for further directions and issuance of orders. 

This comes as legislators are expected to table the impeachment motion on October 1 with reports indicating that the signature collection was nearing the required threshold by Friday evening.