Court declines to stop impeachment process
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko yesterday suffered a major blow after the Labour court declined to issue conservatory orders stopping the hearing of his impeachment at the Senate.
In his ruling Justice Nduma Nderi said that he cannot interfere with the senate hearing that is currently ongoing. He therefore dismissed Sonko’s application and allowed senate to proceed with the hearings to impeach the Governor.
“In my opinion, the work of a senate is like that of an appellate court, it will hear the application and review the impeachment proceedings and material in order to ensure that tradition and legal parameters have been set,” ruled Nderi.
The judge further said that to he issue as the whether the constitutional threshold has been met will be considered by the senate.
He also said that he did not find merit in Sonko’s argument that the impeachment motion was brought in a bad faith will also be addressed by the Senate which is duty bound to consider the merits of the impeachment.
“I therefore do not find merit in the Sonko’s argument that the impeachment motion should be stopped because the threshold for impeachment have not been met,” said the judge.
He added that the court is mandated to intervene in the process where there is alleged violation of his rights.
Further, Justice Nduma said that he court should only engage its powers where there is clear and imminent that to the constitution
“Impeachment is a tool used to oversight the county executive and the court assembly in carrying its constitutional mandate,” he said.
He also noted that the court is required to consider both the procedural and substantive aspects of the impeachment.
