NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 17 – Senate Speaker Amason Kingi has granted a request from Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s counsel to suspend the sitting until 5pm to allow them time to gather details on their client’s health status.
Kingi informed Gachagua’s legal team, led by Senior Counsel Paul Muite, that the impeachment process is time-bound, and that the Speaker will give direction on how the matter will proceed.
“Having considered both sides, my direction is as follows: we will suspend the sitting and resume at exactly 5pm,” Kingi directed.
Gachagua’s impeachment trial took an unexpected turn after he failed to appear during the afternoon session when he scheduled to take the witness stand.
Minutes after his legal team said they could not trace him, they announced that they had received information that the Deputy President had been taken ill and was admitted in hospital.
“The unfortunate reality is that the Deputy President has been taken ill and is currently hospitalized. That is the sad reality,” Muite said.
Time-bound proceedings
The Senior Counsel requested that the Senate Speaker grant his legal team time to monitor the Deputy President’s condition.
“My proposal is that you give me the rest of the day to assess the DP’s situation, and I will return by 5 PM after seeing him and speaking to the doctor,” Muite said.
National Assembly legal counsel James Orengo had proposed a way forward on the matter to ensure that the time parameters for concluding the impeachment motion are adhered to.
“I have heard what legal counsel Paul Muite has said, and the Speaker has made it clear that this process is time-bound. It’s not so much about the situation in which the Deputy President finds himself; it’s about the Senate complying with the Constitution.”
Counsel Eric Ogamba, representing the National Assembly, also noted that the impeachment process must proceed, arguing that the proceedings are time-bound and that additional information from the defendant may be included as the trial continues.
“It puts us in a difficult position because, while we may want to empathize with the Deputy President’s situation, there appears to be no specific proposal from their side,” Ogamba said.
