Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot now says the Senate will appeal the High Court ruling that awarded former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua Ksh50 million in damages for violating his right to a fair hearing.
The lawmaker, on Tuesday, June 9, said the Senate disagreed with the court’s finding on a fair trial, insisting that Gachagua was accorded enough time to defend himself.
“As the Senate, we shall definitely appeal the High Court’s finding on a fair trial. We accorded Gachagua the opportunity to be heard orally and via his filed submissions. He chose, as most impeached persons do when they appear before the Senate, to deploy delay tactics. We said no,” Cheruiyot said.
His remarks came hours after a three-judge bench upheld the Senate’s decision to impeach Gachagua, dismissing several consolidated petitions that sought to overturn his removal from office.
In a ruling delivered on Monday, June 8, Justices Eric Ogolla, Anthony Mrima and Fridah Mugambi found that Parliament acted within the law during the impeachment process.
The judges rejected arguments that Parliament lacked the authority to conduct the impeachment because of the failure to comply with the two-thirds gender principle.
According to the court, the two-thirds gender principle issue did not deny Parliament its constitutional mandate to consider and determine impeachment proceedings.
The bench further upheld the Parliamentary Standing Orders used during the impeachment process, ruling that both the National Assembly and Senate followed lawful procedures in handling the matter.
On public participation, the court found that the National Assembly conducted the exercise in line with constitutional requirements.
However, the judges found that Gachagua’s right to a fair hearing had been infringed during the Senate trial after he was denied an adjournment despite his absence from the proceedings.
According to the judgment, the decision denied him sufficient opportunity to present his case, which the court noted is a violation of his constitutional right to a fair trial.
As a result, the court awarded Gachagua Ksh50 million in damages to be paid by the Senate, while maintaining that the violation was not significant enough to invalidate the impeachment-Kenyans.co.ke.
