NAIROBI, Kenya- Former Chief Justice David Maraga has criticized the High Court’s decision to uphold the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua while simultaneously finding that his constitutional right to a fair hearing had been violated.
Speaking a day after the landmark ruling, Maraga argued that the court should have nullified the impeachment once it established that Gachagua’s rights under Article 25 of the Constitution had been infringed.
“If you allow this, that you can trample upon the rights of somebody, give him a few shillings and life continues, particularly when the Sh50 million is not coming from the pockets of the senators themselves — what is the effect?” Maraga posed.
The former Chief Justice emphasized that Article 25, which guarantees the right to a fair trial and fair hearing, is among the constitutional rights that cannot be limited under any circumstances.
“The High Court found that Honorable Rigathi was not given a fair hearing in the impeachment process. In my view, after that finding, the proper and inevitable conclusion was to annul that impeachment,” Maraga stated.
His remarks come after a three-judge bench upheld Gachagua’s removal from office but ordered the Senate to pay him KSh50 million in damages for violating his right to a fair hearing during the impeachment proceedings.
The court found that while the constitutional threshold for impeachment had been met, aspects of the Senate process fell short of the standards required by the Constitution.
The ruling has sparked a heated legal and political debate, with critics questioning how an impeachment process can remain valid after a court determines that the affected party was denied a fair hearing.
Supporters of the judgment, however, argue that the court distinguished between procedural violations and the substantive grounds that led to Gachagua’s removal.
Gachagua’s legal team has also faulted the judgment, insisting that the finding on fair hearing should have automatically resulted in the quashing of the impeachment.
The impeachment, which was upheld by the Senate in October 2024, marked the first time in Kenya’s history that a sitting Deputy President was removed from office through the constitutional impeachment process.
