Sonko bid to nullify impeachment judgments fast-tracked in court
Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko
A disgraced judge’s presence on the bench has given the former Nairobi governor fresh legal ammunition — but the constitutional questions are far from straightforward.
By Annita Njoki
High Court Judge Gregory Mutai yesterday directed that a petition by former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko seeking to nullify the judgments that upheld his impeachment be heard at the earliest opportunity.
Sonko is challenging those decisions on the ground that former High Court judge Said Juma Chitembwe, who sat on the three-judge bench that dismissed his original impeachment challenge, was subsequently found guilty of judicial misconduct — misconduct Sonko argues was connected to the very dispute Chitembwe presided over. The Supreme Court upheld those findings against Chitembwe, and Sonko contends that his participation fatally compromised the fairness of the proceedings and rendered the outcome constitutionally invalid.
The former governor wants the court to declare the original High Court judgment of June 24, 2021, and all subsequent appellate decisions a nullity, and to order a fresh hearing before an expanded bench appointed by the Chief Justice. He is also seeking orders restraining enforcement of the existing judgments, compelling Kenya Law Reports to remove the affected decisions from its online records, and awarding him exemplary and punitive damages for the alleged violation of his constitutional rights.
The petition places before the court a question with significant implications beyond Sonko’s personal case: can established judicial misconduct reopen concluded proceedings that have already exhausted the appellate process?
The court will decide. Kenya’s judicial integrity may depend on how carefully it answers.
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