High Court orders Ruto, Gachagua to respond to their ouster petition in 11 days

President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua have until August 16 to respond to a petition by a group of activists seeking to remove them from their respective offices through a referendum.

Ruto, Gachagua, and others listed as respondents in the petition were served with the application, petition, and necessary suit papers as ordered by Justice Bahati Mwamuye.

The duo were sued alongside the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the Attorney General, the Inspector General of Police, the National Assembly, the Senate, and the Ministry of National Treasury and Economic Planning.

"The respondents (Ruto, Gachagua, and IEBC, among others) and the interested parties shall file and serve their responses to the application dated July 23, 2024, by the close of business on August 16, 2024," the order by Justice Mwamuye reads in parts.

"Petitioners or applicants shall file a rejoinder, if needed, by the close of business on August 23, 2024. Parties shall appear for further orders or directions on September 24, 2024."

The petitioners, Cyprian Nyamwamu, Khelef Khalifa, and Prof. Fredrick Ogola, among others, want the two to be removed from office for corruption, gross violation of the constitution, and incompetency, before the end of October this year.

They want the high court to order the IEBC to hold a referendum so Kenyans can decide whether or not to end Ruto and Gachagua's terms midway through.

Azimio principal and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga addresses the media after witnessing President William Ruto sign the IEBC Amendment Bill 2024 into law at KICC, Nairobi, on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (Photo: PCS)

Lempaa claims in the application that the top leadership has recently struck Kenya with a sense of gloom, hopelessness, hunger, and economic misery.

The lawyer accused Ruto and Gachagua of diverting Kenya's economic growth started by the late President Mwai Kibaki—a sure trajectory of self-reliance and inclusive growth—which he says has made Kenya a "basket case like Zimbabwe and Somalia."

"The country that took itself as the natural leader and hub of East and Central Africa with a dominant, diverse, and progressive economy and thriving commerce is today shunned by many genuine investors, save the illicit types, money launderers, and economic hitmen who thrive in countries living on the edges because of either their corrupt public officials or steady impoverishment of the middle classes," Lempaa states.

"Millions of young people in the millennial and Generation Z demographics are highly educated or skilled but jobless. Tragically, all the Kenya Kwanza government can do is exhort them to go to the countries of our former colonial masters and slave traders to scrub their dirt and wash the wounds of their old and diseased people."

Lempaa added the social sector effect of the economic downturn is that young adults in their 20s and 30s cannot leave their parents' homes because of long-term joblessness and a lack of real opportunities for those inclined towards self-employment.

"The young Kenyans now popularly known as Gen Z like to say that they fear nothing except hot porridge and marriage, yet the fear of marriage is itself a cover for the grim truth that they cannot marry because of impecunity (the state of having very little money)," he stated in the affidavit.

DP Rigathi Gachagua addresses the media after witnessing President William Ruto sign the IEBC Amendment Bill 2024 into law at KICC, Nairobi, on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (Photo: PCS)