Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has formally appealed the High Court’s June 8 judgment that upheld his 2024 impeachment, filing his appeal at the Court of Appeal on August 13.
The appeal challenges portions of the ruling that validated his removal from office despite the court’s own findings of procedural irregularities in the Senate proceedings.
His core argument: Gachagua contends the High Court contradicted itself, it found the Senate’s investigatory phase was mandatory and that a special committee route couldn’t be skipped, yet still declined to nullify the Senate’s failure to follow that process.
He’s asking the appellate court to declare his October 17, 2024 impeachment unconstitutional and void, and wants the judgment corrected to restore four paragraphs he claims were dropped from the written ruling after being read out in court.
What he’s keeping: Unlike a full-scale challenge, Gachagua is not contesting every finding, he’s preserving the sections that favor him , including the Sh50 million in constitutional damages awarded over violations of his fair-hearing rights, and the court’s affirmation of its own jurisdiction to grant such remedies.
Wider context: The case is now seen as a factor in President Ruto’s 2027 political calculations , particularly around the Mt Kenya vote, since the Senate has separately appealed the damages award while Gachagua fights the impeachment finding itself.
