Residents want Gachagua impeachment blocked

Some 60 Nyeri County residents want the High Court to block the impeachment of Governor Nderitu Gachagua.

The group want the court to to stop the Senate from hearing the impeachment of the Governor because there was no meaningful public participation on the matter.

Through their lawyer, Patrick Ngunjiri, they have filed a notice of motion under a certificate of urgency alleging that the County Assembly deliberately failed to publicise their intentions to impeach the governor so that the public would not be involved in the process. This is the second petition before the court opposing the impeachment after Gachagua moved to the court Monday.

“The crux of this petition is not that the residents of Nyeri would have necessarily opposed the impeachment but they should have been given a chance to air their views regarding the impeachment,” the notice of motion states.

The residents allege they were not consulted through a public participation before the decision was made to impeach the governor.

“The constitution states that public participation should be conducted to avoid situations where a popular governor is removed from office due to malice and the ill will of the county assembly,” they stated in their suit papers.

They are querying why the County Assembly sought the views of the public in other matters but deliberately locked out the public in the process to impeach Gachagua.

“The Constitution directs that the residents should be involved in the legislative processes of the county including the impeachment of the county governor,” they submitted.

The residents argue that in the absence of interim orders, the Senate may proceed to confirm the charges against the governor and eject him from office without the views of Nyeri residents being heard.

The matter will be heard on Monday.