Top lawyers including some who represented former President Uhuru Kenyatta in a presidential election petition are in a team that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has hired to defend him against the impeachment proceedings in Parliament.
The National Assembly will debate the motion to impeach Mr Gachagua today (Tuesday) and the deputy president is scheduled to appear in the evening to answer to the charges of serious violations of the Constitution before members take a final vote.
Senior Counsel Paul Muite will be the lead counsel among a battery of lawyers who will be fighting to save the second in command’s job during the parliamentary proceedings.
“They are close to 20 lawyers,” Muite told Nation on Monday.
Mr Muite, a seasoned lawyer and a former MP for Kikuyu, is a longtime friend of Mr Gachagua, the two having worked together in political circles.
Mr Muite has in the past handled some high profile election matters, including the 2022 presidential election petition.
Together with lawyer Issa Mansur, Mr Muite represented the four Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners who rejected the results that led to the declaration of Dr William Ruto and Mr Gachagua as President and deputy president, respectively.
Commissioners Juliana Cherere (former IEBC Vice-Chairperson), Justus Nyang’aya, Irene Masit and Francis Wanderi alleged vote rigging and refused to endorse the results announced by then IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, Boya Molu and Abdi Guliye.
He was among the lawyers who represented President Kenyatta in the 2013 and 2017 presidential election petitions.
In 2021, Chambers & Partners, a leading legal publication, recognised Mr Macharia as one of the leading dispute resolution lawyers in Kenya. This ranking was based on interviews with clients and peers in the legal profession.
Mr Macharia told Nation that more than 20 lawyers were to represent Gachagua but only 12 had been cleared to attend the defence hearing in Parliament.
Other top legal minds mentioned alongside Mr Macharia were former AG Githu Muigai, Mr Fred Ngatia, Mr Fred Ojiambo and Mr Pheroze Nowrojee.
Lawyer Victor Swanya Ogeto, who vied for the Kitutu Masaba parliamentary seat in the 2022 General Election, will also be in Gachagua’s legal team.
Former Law Society of Kenya president Faith Waigwa is also part of the team that has been spending sleepless nights cracking their minds on how to save Gachagua’s job.
Lawyer Willis Otieno, who had sought to run for the presidency on a Safina party ticket, is also in the DP’s legal team. Mr Otieno was to deputise businessman Jimmy Wanjigi but the two were not cleared by the IEBC to contest in the 2022 polls.
Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru, a common feature in legal teams during impeachment proceedings against governors, has also been tapped by the deputy president.
The National Assembly will consider the impeachment motion sponsored by Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse on Tuesday. Should it garner the backing of two-thirds (233) of the 349-member House, the Motion will be submitted to the Senate for trial of the deputy president. Conversely, if 117 reject it, the DP will survive.
After the impeachment trial in the Senate, a two-thirds majority will be sufficient to send the DP home, according to the impeachment procedure spelt out under Article 150 of the constitution.
But the DP will survive should the motion be rejected by a third of the members or should Senate form a committee that finds the grounds of impeachment are not substantiated.
Should Parliament pass the Motion, there are indications the deputy president will mount a legal fight that could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
Already there are 19 petitions in court that sought to block the impeachment proceedings but the courts have declined to gag the House.
