Nairobi — Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua lawyers have pushed for the recusal of a 3 judge bench citing alleged close ties between Justice Anthony Mrima and Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, a respondent in the petition.
Kibe Mungai, Gachagua's lawyer raised concerns that Justice Anthony Mrima who is part of the 3 judge bench might fail to deliver a fair judgment.
Mungai told the court in an affidavit that both Justice Mrima and Speaker Kingi hold very close friendship ties that may interfere with his ruling on Gachagua's case.
"My lord in paragraph six of the supplementary Affidavit it reads as follows: whereas I was not aware about the relationship between the honorable Justice Mrima who is among the 3 judges having this matter and the fourth respondent Kingi it has been brought to my attention that the honorable judge and speaker Kingi are very good friends," revealed Mungai.
During the proceedings Gachagua's lawyer led by Senior Counsel Paul Muite raised questions whether the 3 judge bench composed of Judge Eric Ogola, Antony Mrima and Dr Freda Mugambi will deliver an unbiased ruling.
On Wednesday the court ruled that the Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu had the jurisdiction to appoint the3 judge bench despite Gachagua's legal team accusing the bench of bias, questioning its ability to deliver a fair judgment.
This is after the bench rejected Rigathi Gachagua's application contesting Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu's authority to constitute it.
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The judges, however, on Thursday Morning dismissed these claims, accusing the lawyers of playing to the gallery and affirming that their appointment by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu was constitutional.
Gachagua's lawyers claimed that Mwilu lacks the constitutional authority to constitute benches under Article 165 (4) of the Constitution; a function they argued is exclusively reserved for the Chief Justice Martha Koome.
"It is therefore our finding that the constitutional function of the CJ to assign benches, being an administrative function, can be performed by the DCJ when the CJ, for good reason, is unable to perform," the bench held.
The Justice Ogola-led bench also dismissed arguments that it convened unconventionally on Saturday to invite parties for an inter-parties hearing on Tuesday.
"We hold that the accusations made by the applicant against this bench are entirely without merit," the judges affirmed.
