Gachagua takes impeachment fight to Court of Appeal

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has taken his impeachment battle to the Court of Appeal after a three-judge bench upheld Parliament’s decision to remove him from office, marking the beginning of a fresh legal contest over one of Kenya’s most closely watched political cases.

Shortly after the High Court delivered its judgement on Monday, Gachagua’s lawyer Njeri Maina informed the bench that a notice of appeal had already been filed and requested certified copies of the proceedings and judgement to facilitate the next phase of the case.

The move came after the court dismissed petitions challenging Gachagua’s ouster, ruling that both the National Assembly and the Senate acted within the law and gave him a fair opportunity to respond to the allegations that led to his impeachment.

Addressing the court, Maina sought certified records on behalf of all petitioners involved in the consolidated matter and urged the judges to speed up the process.

“May it please you, my Lords, my Lady. Njeri Maina for the third petitioner. I wish to request the typed certified proceedings and the certified judgement. My Lords, my Lady, for the tidiness of the proceedings, I request it on behalf of all other petitioners in this matter. The third petitioner has already filed their notice of appeal,” she said.

She further asked the court to fast-track the preparation of the records to enable the next stage of litigation.

“We request that you expedite the proceedings and the judgement so that we can take it on from here,” Maina added.

The appeal now sets the stage for a new legal showdown over the October 2024 impeachment, despite the High Court largely affirming the process that led to Gachagua’s removal from office.

While upholding the impeachment, the court found that some of Gachagua’s constitutional rights had been violated during the Senate proceedings. The judges ruled that the Senate’s refusal to grant an adjournment requested by his legal team amounted to an infringement of his rights.

As a result, the court awarded him Sh50 million in damages. However, the bench held that the violation was not sufficient to invalidate the impeachment process.

In their judgement, Justices Eric Ogola, Anthony Mrima and Freda Mugambi also found that the public participation conducted before the impeachment met the constitutional threshold required by law. The judges further ruled that Parliament was within its mandate to exercise oversight over state officers.

The decision effectively cemented Gachagua’s removal from office and brought to a close a major chapter in the legal challenges surrounding his impeachment.

However, with the matter now headed to the Court of Appeal, attention is expected to shift to key aspects of the High Court judgement, including the legality of the impeachment process and the remedies granted by the bench.