In Courts: Supreme Court to rule on legality of bench in Gachagua impeachment case

The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its decision today on whether the High Court bench that heard petitions challenging the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was constitutionally constituted.

A four-judge bench of the apex court will determine the legality of the three-judge High Court panel that handled the consolidated petitions arising from Gachagua’s removal from office in October 2024.

At the centre of the dispute is whether Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu acted within constitutional limits when she empanelled the bench in the absence of Chief Justice Martha Koome.

The bench, comprising Justices Anthony Mrima, Frida Mugambi and Eric Ogola, was constituted in October 2024 and later lifted conservatory orders that had temporarily halted the impeachment process.

That decision allowed the process to proceed, culminating in President William Ruto appointing Kithure Kindiki as Deputy President.

Gachagua subsequently pursued the matter through the appellate courts.

Gachagua’s legal team argued that the empanelment was unconstitutional, citing Article 165(4) of the Constitution, which they contended vests the authority to constitute a High Court bench hearing matters of substantial constitutional importance solely in the Chief Justice.

On May 9, 2025, the Court of Appeal agreed with that position. A bench led by Court of Appeal President Daniel Musinga, alongside Justices Mumbi Ngugi and Fred Ochieng, ruled that DCJ Mwilu lacked the constitutional mandate to appoint the bench.

The appellate court found no evidence that Mwilu was acting as Chief Justice at the time or that exceptional circumstances existed to justify her intervention.

It consequently invalidated the bench and directed Chief Justice Koome to empanel a new one within 14 days.

Chief Justice Koome later reappointed the same three judges to hear the consolidated petitions, a decision that reignited the legal dispute.

The National Assembly then moved to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the Court of Appeal judgment and to affirm the legality of Mwilu’s actions.

Gachagua filed a cross-appeal, urging the apex court to dismiss Parliament’s case.

The Supreme Court’s ruling is expected to have a significant bearing on the future of the impeachment challenge.

Ex-Kabete MP George Muchai robbery with violence case

A Milimani court is expected to deliver a decision today in the long-running robbery with violence case connected to events surrounding the killing of former Kabete MP George Muchai.

The matter comes before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina following a recent High Court ruling that declined to halt the criminal proceedings, allowing the trial court to proceed to its conclusion.

Earlier this week, High Court Judge Lawrence Mugambi dismissed an application by the accused seeking to stay the proceedings on constitutional grounds.

The case relates to a robbery allegedly committed on the night of February 7, 2015, involving complainants Gladys Waithera and Irene Muthoni on Nairobi’s Kenyatta Avenue.

The robbery is alleged to have taken place on the same night that Muchai, his two bodyguards, Samuel Kailikia and Samuel Matanta, and his driver, Stephen Wambugu, were shot dead in a separate incident.

The accused — Eric Isabwa, Raphael Kimani, Mustapha Kimani, Stephen Astiva, Jane Wanjiru, Margaret Njeri and Simon Wambugu — are facing multiple counts of robbery with violence relating to several complainants.

All the accused have denied the charges.

They had argued that the charge sheets were unconstitutional and that their prosecution under Sections 295, 296 and 297 of the Penal Code was unlawful, contending that the alleged constitutional defects justified a halt to the trial.

In his ruling, Justice Mugambi held that granting blanket orders stopping robbery with violence trials or directing the release of accused persons, even where constitutional questions are raised, would be impractical and disruptive to the justice system.