Court sets date for hearing petition seeking Ruto, Gachagua removal through referendum

The high court will on October 29 start hearing of a petition seeking removal of President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua through a referendum.

Justice Bahati Mwamuye of the high court in Nairobi set the date for highlighting submissions by the petitioners and the respondents.

The petition was filed by the Kenya Bora Tuitakayo movement through governance expert Cyprian Nyamwamu and 13 other civil rights leaders on July 23.

They want the high court to order the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to hold a referendum before the end of next month.

The activists want Kenyans to be allowed to decide whether Ruto and Gachagua will be allowed to finish five years in their respective offices or their term will be terminated midway.

They want the court to order a referendum for Kenyans to remove Ruto and Gachagua from office "for violating the constitution and the rights of the people of Kenya with impunity while defiling the sovereignty of Kenya and sabotaging the National economy through wrong-headed policies".

Nyamwamu and associates sued Ruto, Gachagua, the IEBC and Attorney General among others and Justice Mwamuye set the dates after respondents replied to the petition as required.

The Senate and the office of AG had raised preliminary objections to the petition but the same was unacceptable.

The AG and Senate had argued, in their preliminary objections, that the President and his deputy can only be removed from office through a parliamentary impeachment.

But lawyer Kibe Mungai for the petitioners said the argument by the AG and the Senate on the mandate of impeachment was not being challenged in the petition.

The lawyer said, "What the petition seeks to achieve is to punish the two (Ruto and Gachagua) for violating the constitution while knowing that they have captured Parliament," the lawyer said.

He said this (the capture of Parliament) has left Kenyans with no option but to defend the constitution and their sovereign power by exercising their power directly.

"The constitution is not powerless in the face of it being violated," he said, adding, "It requires citizens to defend it by exercising power directly rendering an impotent and captured Parliament to continue with its toothlessness".

The respondents requested to be served with the petition again after failing to stop the hearing through preliminary objections to strike out the petition before the hearing.

The respondents and interested parties who have not filed responses were directed to do the same within seven days from today.