Embu, Kenya: Besieged Embu Governor Martin Wambora will this morning know whether he was rightly impeached by the local county assembly.
The governor will appear before the Court of Appeal, sitting in Nyeri, which will also rule whether Embu Speaker Justus Mate and County Assembly Clerk Jim Kauma were correctly indicted for contempt of court charges emanating from Wambora's first impeachment.
The ruling, which is likely to set a precedent on the court's mandate with regard to impeachment of county chiefs, will be delivered by appellate judges Alnashir Visram, Martha Koome and Otieno Odek.
The suit emanated from appeals filed separately by the two leaders over disputed sections of a judgement delivered by the Kerugoya High Court on April 19 reinstating Wambora after his first impeachment.
Wambora wants the appellate court to find that the High Court, while reinstating him, ought to have exonerated him from any wrong doing, an "error" which he claims led to his second impeachment.
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Eroded confidence
Mate and Kauma, on the other hand, whom the Kerugoya court indicted for contempt of court denied receipt of a court order barring them from debating Wambora's impeachment.
During the hearing of the appeal, Wambora through senior counsel Ahamednasir Abdullahi and Paul Muite, claimed he was impeached to serve as the sacrificial lamb in the turf wars between senators and governors.
"The courts must take care not to be intimidated when the political question is weighed in on the judicial process. This appeal seeks a precedent setting judgement that will stop this proliferation of superficial impeachment of governors," said Muite.
Muite also asked the court to uphold the contempt of court charges against Mate and Kauma "to instill obedience to courts among Kenyans".
"If the court allows orders to be disobeyed, the rule of law will be destroyed and the public confidence in the courts will be eroded," said Muite.
Mate and Kauma have denied receiving the court order.
