Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine DP’s impeachment

Former President of the East African Law Society James Aggrey Mwamu address the press at his office in Kisumu- Story and Photo By Dickson Odhiambo

    October 15, 2024

Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine DP’s impeachment

The Court has a jurisdiction to hear and determine Deputy President Rigathy Gachagua’s impeachment case should Senate uphold the National Assembly’s decision and he moves to court challenge it.

Former President of the East Africa Law Society James Mwamu says some legal practitioners have been misleading the public that courts have no powers to hear and determine the case concerning the impeachment of the Deputy President.

Addressing the members of the press at his office in Kisumu, Mwamu says the Senate should give the Deputy President a chance and fully hear him during the impeachment motion that is now before it.

Mwamu says there is no pronouncement from the Courts so far that they have no jurisdiction to hear and determine such matters.

“There is nowhere in Kenya here from the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Kenya where it has been pronounced that they can’t hear and determine the impeachment of a Deputy President,” Mwamu says.

He says no member of the public should be misled by such a pronouncement of courts having no jurisdiction on such a matter.

“It is premature to argue that the courts have no jurisdiction to hear and determine the impeachment of a Deputy President,” Mwamu further says.

Mwamu says the issue of public participation is a weighty one and the Courts will determine whether there was an appropriate public participation process for the Impeachment of the Deputy President.