The Meru High Court has overturned the impeachment of Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi Mohamud, terming his removal from office illegal.
In a judgment delivered virtually, judges Justice Edward Muriithi, Patrick Jeremy Otieno and Thripsisa Cherere ruled that there was no public participation during the impeachment at the Wajir County Assembly.
And to allow a smooth handover, the judges ruled that Mr Mohamud resumes office on March 10, 2022 when Mr Ahmed Mukhtar, who had taken over as governor, is supposed to vacate office.
While nullifying the impeachment process, the judges ruled that the motion filed by Tulatula MCA Abdullahi Issack at the county assembly was defective and should not have been debated.
They agreed that the impeachment process was conducted in breach and disobedience of valid court orders that had stopped the Wajir ward reps from discussing it.
In a judgment read by Justice Muriithi, the judges said that the conservatory orders issued on diverse dates by the High Court in Meru were proper and faulted the MCAs for ignoring them.
They gave a chronology of disobeyed orders, including one where Justice Muriithi ordered the Wajir County Assembly to halt the intended process to eject Mr Mohamud.
They also mentioned subsequent ones where parties successfully sought stoppage of the discussion by the Senate and the subsequent swearing in of Mr Mukhtar.
The petition seeking the nullification of the impeachment was filed by Aden Ibrahim, Omar Jele, Bishar Ahmed, Safiya Mahammed and Yussuf Ibrahim who argued that there were court orders barring the process.
They named the Senate, its Speaker Ken Lusaka, the county assembly of Wajir, its clerk Shalle Sheikh, Speaker Ibrahim Ahmed and Tulatula MCA Abdullahi Issack as respondents.
They had on April 26, 2021 obtained orders temporarily stopping the impeachment by, but the ward reps went ahead to impeach the governor.
After the move, the petitioners, who were represented by lawyers Ndegwa Njiru and Kiogora Mugambi, moved to court and obtained orders stopping the Senate from debating the impeachment of Mr Mohamud by the MCAs.
Justice Muriithi had also barred the Senate from commencing the formal process to gazette Mr Mohamud’s impeachment but the Senate did so on May 17.
At one point, Justice Otieno had referred the matter to Chief Justice Martha Koome, noting that the Meru court had issued four orders during the controversial impeachment process but none was obeyed.
Justice Otieno had particularly emphasised that the order he issued on May 18 halting the replacement of Mr Mr Mohamud as Wajir governor was still in effect.
The judge had also stopped the swearing in of Mr Mukhtar as county boss and suspended the implementation of a gazette notice announcing Senate’s resolution to kick out Mr Mr Mohamud.
However, lawyers Ahmednasir Abdullahi and Issa Mansur, who represented the respondents, insisted that the orders sought had been overtaken by events since a new governor had been sworn in.
