High Court upholds ex-DP Gachagua impeachment
The High Court has upheld the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, ruling that the process followed by the National Assembly and Senate was lawful and that the final outcome remains valid under the Constitution.
Delivering the judgement, the three-judge bench held that although concerns were raised about how parts of the process were handled, the impeachment decision could not be overturned due to the constitutional framework governing the office of the Deputy President.
The judges said the Constitution treats impeachment as a final process once completed and does not allow courts to reverse it after a new Deputy President has been lawfully appointed.
“The Constitution is the grundnorm, and where that grundnorm deliberately and clearly limits the power of the court, that limitation must be respected,” the court stated.
The court also found that Gachagua’s fair hearing rights were violated during the Senate proceedings, particularly when his request for an adjournment was denied while he was unwell.
“We have found that the fair trial rights of His Excellency Gachagua were infringed when the Senate declined to allow the adjournment,” the judges noted.
However, the court ruled that this violation alone could not invalidate the impeachment, warning that doing so would create confusion in leadership and could result in a situation where two Deputy Presidents existed at the same time.
The judges said such an outcome would go against the structure of the Constitution and could not be allowed.
The court also upheld the process used to nominate and approve the current Deputy President, finding that Parliament acted within its powers and followed the required legal steps.
It rejected claims that delays or the speed with which the matter was handled rendered the process unconstitutional, saying the timelines adopted by Parliament did not breach the law.
“We find that it would be premature to hold that the National Assembly was improperly constituted for the purposes of considering the impeachment motion,” the court stated.
The judges further ruled that no outside body was required to step into the process during the vacancy, confirming that Parliament and the President acted within their authority.
On transparency and procedure, the court said the impeachment and appointment process followed the law and did not become illegal simply because it was completed expeditiously.
“The gazettement of the Senate resolution, the President’s nomination, and the National Assembly’s approval did not contravene the Constitution merely because they were undertaken expeditiously,” the judgement stated.
Although the court acknowledged that some rights were violated during the Senate hearing, it said the proper remedy was not to nullify the impeachment but to provide formal recognition of the violation and compensation where appropriate.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was awarded Sh50 million in damages for the violation of his constitutional rights.
Here is the great 2027 opposition team. Good luck.
Rigathi Gachagua (centre) with his sons, spouse Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, and United Opposition co-principals Kalonzo Musyoka and Eugene Wamalwa at his Karen home as they await the court’s verdict in his impeachment case on June 8, 2026.
There are all sorts of whining about the High Court ruling not being airtight and that Gachagua could get something in the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court. That is not going to happen and Gachagua hopes of running for any office is dead and gone.
If President Ruto had any influence on the court rulings, he would beg the courts to overturn the impeachment and let Gachagua run for the presidency in which case William Ruto will not have to campaign at all and win the presidency sitting at his home.
Now the opposition is going to wait for more than two years for the final ruling at the Supreme Court and they cannot pick a candidate to run against Ruto until then. Talk about the opposition being held hostage by one guy who cannot even run for a job as a village chief.
Now Gchagagua must be wishing Moi was around to give him a job as a D.O again so he can kill people for him like he did in Molo in 1992 where he slaughtered more than 5,000 people mainly Kikuyus who did not vote for Moi in the first multiparty elections and was duly promoted after that achievement for the big boy.
In the promotion letter, Moi actually thanked him for wiping out Kikuyus in Molo and that is the guy who now pretends to be the godfather of the Kikuyu communities. Shame on him.
