{"id":100347,"date":"2024-10-25T12:02:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T12:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/10\/25\/ogola-led-bench-declines-gachaguas-recusal-plea-after-embarrassing-affidavit\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T12:02:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T12:02:59","slug":"ogola-led-bench-declines-gachaguas-recusal-plea-after-embarrassing-affidavit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/ogola-led-bench-declines-gachaguas-recusal-plea-after-embarrassing-affidavit\/","title":{"rendered":"Ogola-led bench declines Gachagua\u2019s recusal plea after embarrassing affidavit"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 25 \u2013 The bench empaneled to hear petitions arising from Rigathi Gachagua\u2019s impeachment as Deputy President and the subsequent appointment of Kithure Kindiki as his replacement has declined to recuse itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Justices Eric Ogola, Anthony Mrima, and Dr. Freda Mugambi dismissed the application in a ruling on Friday, a day after the bench declined a bid by Gachagua\u2019s lawyers to expunge misleading claims in an affidavit supporting the application.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe application for recusal is hereby disallowed,\u201d Ogola declared, adding that the bench had extensively discussed the matter, including allegations of bias raised by counsel.<\/p>\n

Gachagua\u2019s lawyer sought to delete two paragraphs after respondents flagged their inconsistencies with widely known facts.<\/p>\n

One of the contested paragraphs suggested that Dr. Mugambi pursued an LLM under Prof. Kindiki, the Deputy President Designate, at Moi University. However, it became apparent that the institution offered no such program.<\/p>\n

The applicants also alleged a recent appointment of Justice Ogola\u2019s wife to a state parastatal by President William Ruto, despite attaching a Gazette Notice indicating that the appointment was made by the Cabinet Secretary for Environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice Ogola is closely associated with his spouse who serves in the Kenya Water\u00a0Towers\u00a0Agency\u00a0(KWTA),\u201d lawyer Njeru Ndegwa told the court on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In another claim, the applicants linked Justice Mrima to Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, citing the Speaker\u2019s presence at the judge\u2019s wedding in 2021.<\/p>\n

The bench stated that the applicants were free to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n

The bench further directed petitioners to file amendments to their petitions, if needed, within five days, with respondents required to act accordingly.<\/p>\n

Justice Ogola scheduled a hearing on Tuesday, October 29, to consider the Attorney General\u2019s application for review of conservatory orders suspending the impeachment resolution and Kindiki\u2019s assumption of office.<\/p>\n

\u2018Appearing under protest\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Friday\u2019s ruling marked the third consecutive setback for Gachagua before the bench since the commencement of the hearing, characterized by protracted procedural battles.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Gachagua\u2019s lawyers led by Paul Muite, having recorded their appearance \u201cunder protest\u201d from the outset, suffered a setback after the bench rejected an application contesting Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu\u2019s authority to constitute it.<\/p>\n

Justices Ogola, Mrima, and Dr. Mugambi dismissed the application with costs, faulting the lawyers representing the ousted Deputy President for \u201cplaying to the gallery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nOgola-led bench slaps Gachagua with costs, affirms DCJ empanelment<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

The court rejected an assertion by Gachagua\u2019s lawyers that Mwilu lacks the constitutional authority to constitute benches under Article 165 (4) of the Constitution, arguing that this function is exclusively reserved for the Chief Justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is, therefore, our finding that the constitutional function of the CJ to assign benches, being an administrative function, can be performed by the DCJ when the CJ, for good reason, is unable to perform it,\u201d the bench held.<\/p>\n

The Justice Ogola-led bench also dismissed arguments that it convened unconventionally on a Saturday to invite parties for an inter-partes hearing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hold that the accusations made by the applicant against this bench are entirely without merit,\u201d the judges affirmed.<\/p>\n

The bench noted that the electronic Case Tracking System (CTS) allowed for seamless handling of urgent matters and that lawyers are well aware of the practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was nothing unconventional in the manner in which this bench dealt with the two applications filed under a certificate of urgency,\u201d the judges held.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not unusual for courts to issue directions upon the filing of an application or outside routine work hours when circumstances so require,\u201d the bench ruled.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 25 \u2013 The bench empaneled to hear petitions arising from Rigathi Gachagua\u2019s impeachment as Deputy President and the subsequent appointment of Kithure Kindiki as his replacement has declined to recuse itself. Justices Eric Ogola, Anthony Mrima, and Dr. Freda Mugambi dismissed the application in a ruling on Friday, a day after the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}