{"id":115331,"date":"2025-05-21T08:02:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T08:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/21\/lawyer-contests-move-to-withdraw-gachagua-pre-impeachment-petitions\/"},"modified":"2025-05-21T08:02:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T08:02:53","slug":"lawyer-contests-move-to-withdraw-gachagua-pre-impeachment-petitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/lawyer-contests-move-to-withdraw-gachagua-pre-impeachment-petitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyer contests move to withdraw Gachagua pre-impeachment petitions"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 21 \u2014 A Nairobi-based lawyer has filed a legal application seeking to block the withdrawal of a series of pre-impeachment petitions challenging proceedings for the removal of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Advocate Kelly Malenya told the court in an urgent application made on Monday the move would preserve public interest litigation and ensure judicial scrutiny of the constitutional process that led to Gachagua\u2019s removal from office.<\/p>\n

Acting on behalf of intended petitioner Fredrick Mulaa, Malenya is seeking urgent orders to prevent the withdrawal of Nairobi Petition E522 of 2024, seen a tactical move by Gachagua following a Court of Appeal ruling that declared the placement of the petitions before a bench constituded by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu as irregular.<\/p>\n

The petition, consolidated with five others\u2014E506, E509, E525, E528, and E537 of 2024\u2014is part of a group of cases categorized as Cohort 1, filed prior to Gachagua\u2019s impeachment.<\/p>\n

The original petitioner had filed a Notice of Withdrawal on May 15, 2025, which the new applicant contends could be a tactical move to frustrate the full hearing of the constitutional challenges. <\/p>\n

Substitute petitioner<\/h2>\n

The application seeks, among other orders, to substitute the original petitioners with Fredrick Mulaa, who has expressed willingness to take over and prosecute the petitions to their conclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese petitions raise fundamental public interest issues concerning the legality and constitutionality of the impeachment process of a Deputy President,\u201d reads the motion in part. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were filed at the initiation of the impeachment process and remain pending determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advocate asked the court to treat the matter as urgent and to hear it ex parte<\/em> in the first instance, with subsequent proceedings given priority due to the significant constitutional questions involved.<\/p>\n

Malenya argues that the petitions\u2014whether filed before or after Gachagua\u2019s impeachment\u2014were driven by a desire to uphold public accountability and constitutional integrity. <\/p>\n

The Court of Appeal\u2019s on May 9 found Mwilu to have acted unprocedurally by executing a mandate assigned exclusively to the Chief Justice.<\/p>\n

Gachagua\u2019s lawyers welcomed the appeal court ruling demanding for the reinstatement of their client even though the court made no such orders.<\/p>\n

The former DP\u2019s team is expected to shift focus on the new application as it fights to protect his eligibility for the 2027 presidential election which he has signaled intent to contest.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 21 \u2014 A Nairobi-based lawyer has filed a legal application seeking to block the withdrawal of a series of pre-impeachment petitions challenging proceedings for the removal of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. Advocate Kelly Malenya told the court in an urgent application made on Monday the move would preserve public interest litigation […]<\/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-115331","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\/115331","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=115331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}