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The High Courts will today rule on whether it will transmit cases challenging the impeachment process of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to the Chief Justice to constitute a bench to determine the matter.
Through Senior Counsel Paul Muite, Elisha Ongoya and other counsels, Gachagua on Wednesday told the court that impeachment in a presidential system of government is not a question of numbers in the national assembly.
He said there has to be proof of gross violation of the constitution.
This being the first time impeachment of a Deputy President is taking place, the counsels said the right to a fair trial is one that cannot be limited.
They emphasized that procedures relating to impeachment of governors and that of the President and Deputy President are different and that is why the court should consider referring the matter to the CJ to appoint a bench that will deal with weighty constitutional issues.
282 MPs on Tuesday voted to impeach Gachagua.
Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetangula called the vote after only 44 of the required 117 MPs voted to save the DP.
Gachagua now hopes on the Senate to save him, that is if he manages to raise 23 senators to defeat the motion sponsored by Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse.
Gachagua has maintained that there was no proper public participation prior to his impeachment.
"These are weighty issues particularly in a presidential system of government as opposed to a Parliamentary system," said Muite.
He emphasized that Impeachment in a presidential system of government is about the sovereignty of the people who elected the President and the Deputy President.
The court heard that public participation which was not adequately provided is the only avenue where the people can exercise their sovereignty.
In a brief rejoinder, the Speaker of the National Assembly told the court that the issues being raised by the DP have been overtaken by events as a resolution was already passed with an overwhelming majority of MPs.
He mentioned that the Senate is now seized of the matter and the court should not issue orders in vain.
Advocate Benson Milimo on record for the Speaker said he didn't see any weighty issues necessitating the file to be placed before the CJ to appoint a bench.
He said the National Assembly exceeded the standards when it came to public participation.
He told Justice Lawrence Mugambi that votes determine the removal of the DP by way of impeachment.
"There's no other procedure provided in any other law," he said.
At least 22 petitions have been filed touching on the impeachment of the DP across the country.
Five were before Justice Mugambi today.
While others were before Justice Chacha Mwita.
One of them has been filed by one Nicholas Mweu. The National Assembly and the Senate are also parties to these matters before Mwita.
They sought to have the matters consolidated but Judge Mwita said it would only be fair for the Principal judge of the High Court to handle the issues at hand, call for the files and make an administrative decision.
Separately, an anti-corruption court is to hear the Sh8.6 million graft case facing Bomas of Kenya CEO Peter Gitaa Koria.
He has since denied charges of procurement irregularity amounting to Sh8.6 million.
The fraud, according to the prosecution, was committed between December 29 and 30 June 2021.
It is alleged that Koria being the CEO and Accounting officer of Bomas of Kenya willfully failed to comply with the law relating to procurement.
He was accused of engaging in a procurement process without an approved budget for various tenders during the financial 2020/2021.
The charges indicate that Koria engaged in procurement irregularities in the award of the following public tenders: Quotation No.15/Kitchen Items; Quotation No.16/Utensils; Quotation No.17/Kitchen Items; Quotation No.18/Plates & Cups and Quotation No.19/Cutlery and Other Items which were not factored in the Bomas of Kenya's Budget and Procurement Plan FY 2020/2021.
He is out on a cash bail of Sh1 million.