Martin Wambora during a Senate special session to decide on his impeachment case on February 14, 2014 at County Hall, Nairobi. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
Judges rule that Senate decision to impeach him was in breach of a court order.
The Bench also directed that Senate Gazette Notice 1052 which endorsed the ouster of Mr Wambora be quashed with immediate effect.
Mr Wambora was impeached on January 28.
Three judges sitting at the Kerugoya High court on Wednesday overturned the Senate’s impeachment of Embu Governor Martin Wambora and reinstated him into office.
The judges declared the removal of Mr Wambora null and void after finding that the Senate’s 11-member committee acted in total disobedience of a court order issued against it.
“Senate committee was duly served with the order which had been issued by Justice David Majanja and duly stamped. It discussed the order but chose to ignore it,” justices Cecilia Githua, Hedwig Ong’udi and Boaz Olao said in a ruling read by Ms Ong’udi.
The Bench also directed that Senate Gazette Notice 1052 which endorsed the ouster of Mr Wambora be quashed with immediate effect.
The judges said the High court had issued an order on February 4 restraining the committee from discussing the resolutions of the Embu County Assembly.
“Anything done in disobedience of court orders is illegal. The mighty and the low should abide by the Constitution as no one is above the law,” Lady Justice Ong’udi said.
The assembly had a week earlier impeached Mr Wambora for allegedly violating of the constitution but the judges said the process was illegal from the beginning.
The County Assembly had prior to the impeachment been served with a court order barring it from proceeding with the motion.
“Assembly members did not give Mr Wambora the right to fair hearing. They just debated a motion of impeachment and passed it without granting him an opportunity to be heard. The law of natural justice demands that no one should be condemned unheard,” the judge said.
The judges said the assembly also violated its own standing orders which provide a right to be heard before condemnation.
They said the Speaker of the County assembly Justus Mate and the Clerk of the Assembly were liable for contempt of court.
Mr Wambora was impeached on January 28. The assembly forwarded its recommendations to the Senate which removed him upon confirming three out of the five charges levelled against him.
It found Mr Wambora guilty of violating public procurement laws, the Public Finance and Management Act and the Constitution. However, it absolved him of accusations of abuse of office.
Mr Wambora was the first elected official to be impeached in independent Kenya.
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