Mercy Chepkemoi Senate Speaker Amason Kingi has rejected an objection raised by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s lawyers, who sought to prohibit Siaya Governor James Orengo from representing the National Assembly during the hearing of the impeachment motion against him.
Gachagua’s attorney, Ndegwa Njiru, argued that allowing Orengo to appear in the case would be prejudicial to the Deputy President, claiming that the Governor, as a serving State officer, is constitutionally barred from engaging in any other form of gainful employment.
Additionally, the lawyer referenced a precedent from the impeachment proceedings involving former Kisii Deputy Governor Richard Monda, where South Mugirango MP and National Assembly Majority Whip Sylvanus Osoro was not permitted to represent the Kisii County Assembly.
National Assembly lawyer Eric Gumbo countered by citing Section 26 of the Leadership and Integrity Act, which defines gainful employment.
He pointed out that attorney Njiru had provided no evidence to support the claim that Governor Orengo was engaging in gainful employment by participating in the case.
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Gumbo then argued that Governor Orengo’s participation in the impeachment proceedings would not cause any prejudice to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
The constitution
Speaker Kingi remarked,
“Section 26 of the Leadership and Integrity Act states that ‘a full-time State Officer shall not engage in any other gainful employment,’ while Section 26(2) defines ‘gainful employment’ as ‘work that a person can pursue and perform for money or other forms of compensation or remuneration that is inherently incompatible with the responsibilities of the State office, or that impairs the judgment of the State officer in executing their duties, or results in a conflict of interest as outlined in Section 16.’”
“After considering the matter, it is essential to emphasize that a State Officer must inspire confidence. However, it is well established in law that the burden of proof lies with the person making the assertion.
In this case, I must point out that the Learned Counsel for the Deputy President failed to provide evidence to support the claim of gainful employment.
It is also somewhat surprising that Counsel attempted to shift the responsibility of proving gainful employment to the National Assembly. That argument is untenable.”
Speaker Kingi further noted that MP Osoro was barred from participating in the impeachment proceedings against former Kisii Deputy Governor Monda because he is an elected legislator representing a constituency within the same county under investigation and holds a significant position in the Bicameral Parliament.
“As rightly pointed out by the Counsel for the Deputy President, it is true that neither Article 77 of the Constitution nor Section 26 of the Leadership and Integrity Act explicitly provides a test for prejudice. Therefore, both the Deputy President’s Counsel’s argument that his side would be prejudiced by Senior Counsel James Orengo’s appearance and the National Assembly’s rebuttal that no prejudice would occur are moot,” Speaker Kingi stated.
“After analyzing the preliminary objection raised and for the reasons I have outlined, I hereby dismiss the preliminary objection concerning Senior Counsel James Orengo’s representation of the National Assembly.” Kingi ended.
