CJ Koome breaks silence on Gachagua impeachment case
Chief Justice (CJ) Martha Koome brushes off questions on Rigath Gachagua impeachment case
Chief Justice (CJ) Martha Koome brushes off questions on Rigath Gachagua impeachment case.
Chief Justice Martha Koome on Tuesday, October 22 broke her silence on the court cases challenging the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua.
Amid a wave of uncertainty over her loud silence, Koome made a rare public appearance by visiting the Makadara Law courts on Tuesday afternoon.
The CJ was interacting with staff and at some point during the interaction, one member of the public challenged her to speak on Gachagua’s court proceedings.
In response, CJ Koome shrugged off the matter, and suggested the case was out of her jurisdiction for now, saying, “That is a case that is with the High Court. It has not gotten to me yet.”
Koome’s public appearance comes after it emerged on Tuesday that she had flown out of the country at some point in the last week prompting Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu to constitute a three-judge bench to hear the case challenging Gachagua’s ouster.
Earlier in the day, Gachagua’s legal team had spent a good amount of time questioning whether Mwilu had the powers to appoint the bench arguing that only CJ Koome had the authority to do that.
“It is unclear as to circumstances that led to the placement of the file to this bench on a Saturday without the express directions of the Chief Justice on the composition of a bench,” Senior counsel Paul Muite observed.
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The DP also read malice into how a petition file came from Kerugoya at 4 pm only for the DCJ to instantly appoint the three judges to hear an application by the State seeking to set aside orders blocking Kithure Kindiki’s appointment.
The fact that Gachagua’s team had little faith in the three-judge bench complicated the court proceedings on Tuesday and at some point, the judges adjourned to allow parties to file applications challenging the validity of its empanelment.
On the same day, President William Ruto also challenged the High Court’s powers to hear petitions challenging the impeachment.
The President, through his legal team, requested the High Court drop Gachagua’s impeachment cases which he argues should be handled by the Supreme Court.
Gachagua is set to learn his fate on Wednesday, October 23 at 3pm, when the three-judge bench will rule on whether to withdraw from three cases assigned to them by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu.
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