Rigathi Gachagua now insists that the impeachment trial in the Senate was not time-barred, arguing that senators should have waited for his recovery.
Speaking to the press on Sunday, Gachagua claimed that Senators should have granted him a fair hearing in the impeachment trial by giving him five more days, as requested by his legal counsel.
On Thursday, the final day of his trial, Gachagua was due for cross-examination but his lawyers told the House they could not trace him after a lunch break. The lawyers subsequently told Senate they had learnt he was taken ill.
Senators upheld five charges, including inciting ethnic divisions and violating his oath of office in a conviction on Thursday.
"According to my lawyers, the motion was not time-bound. What was time-bound was the select committee, which was to work for 10 days and report back to the House, but it was never constituted. This matter should have continued and waited for me," he stated.
Gachagua, who was flanked by his wife, Dorcas Gachagua, Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo, and a section of Mt. Kenya legislators, urged the courts to deliver justice.
"I requested, according to the rules of natural justice, that I be given the opportunity to appear before the Senate. In the National Assembly, I was there and defended myself. In the Senate, I was there on day one, and I was ready for cross-examination," he said.
"I ask Chief Justice Martha Koome to remain true to the fidelity of our Constitution," Gachagua added.
Tuesday hearing
A three-judge bench constituted by Chief Justice Martha Koome is scheduled to hold an inter-partes hearing on Tuesday to consider a suit challenging Gachagua's impeachment.
Justice Freda Mugambi, sitting at the Kerugoya High Court, issued the directive on Saturday amid successive court orders from across the country on the matter.
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She directed that the parties be "served and responded to forthwith," considering the urgency of the case.
"In light of the urgency of the matter and the weighty issues raised therein, we direct that the application be served and responded to forthwith, for an inter-partes hearing on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. in open Court No. 18."
The bench comprises Justices Eric Ogola, Anthony Mrima, and Dr. Mugambi.
Gachagua had secured orders from Justice Chacha Mwita on Friday, suspending the Senate's resolution to impeach him, with the judge restraining the National Assembly from considering a replacement.
Mwita's decision was followed by a similar ruling from a judge in Kerugoya, with both justices referring the suits to Chief Justice Martha Koome to constitute a bench.
Opinion remains divided on the effect of the orders, with debate over whether a court order restraining the National Assembly from considering Kithure Kindiki's nomination for Deputy President was overtaken by events.
These rulings emerged after the National Assembly had already concluded a session to consider Kindiki's nomination, an exercise that the orders sought to halt.
