14 petitioners through the Migeria Lempaa & Kariuki Advocates firm have filed a case seeking to remove President William Ruto and Deputy President (DP) Rigathi Gachagua from office.
In a court document seen by The Kenya Times, the petition signed by the petitioners have outlined six reasons why President Ruto (1st Respondent) and his deputy (2nd Respondent) should leave their respective offices.
According to the petitioners, the duo has a gloomy background and bad socio-economic steps that erupted into a civic revolt whose first casualty was the rejection of the Finance Bill and the subsequent dissolution of the Cabinet.
The Petitioners argued that the two lack good faith to address the grievances of its generation.
This, according to the petition, is manifested in the re-appointment of members of the dismissed cabinet and the implementation of increased fuel levy by the Kenya Roads Board despite its public withdrawal by former Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.
“Little wonder that the protesters claim they have lost faith in the Presidency William Ruto and Rigathi Gachagua hence their mantra and cry “Ruto Must Go!” This clamour is popular among the broadest cross-section of Kenyans,” read the petition in parts.
Removing Ruto & Gachagua from Office
They argued that the terms of office for the President and DP may be terminated indirectly through impeachment proceedings in Parliament or directly by the people through a Referendum.
The petitioners further argued that Kenya is facing an existential threat borne by the incapacity, unwillingness to work smart and incompetence of the Kenya Kwanza government.
For this reason, they stated that the legitimacy of its President and DP to remain in power are at stake hence the need for a referendum for the free citizens of Kenya to determine their fitness to remain in office as President and Deputy President respectively.
According to the Advocate, the petitioners chose the direct avenue to remove President Ruto and DP Gachagua due the government’s influence in Parliament.
“Given the capture of Parliament by President Ruto and his Kenya Kwanza Coalition the Petitioners herein have invoked the direct avenue to remove President Ruto and DP Gachagua through the exercise of the sovereign power of Kenyans in a Referendum that should be held by the end of October 2024. This is the principal issue in this Petition whose hearing should be expedited as a matter of the highest national priority,” read another part of the petition.
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Failures of Kenya Kwanza Got
They accused the government of removing Linda Mama Program and reducing capitation for free primary education.
The main subject matter of the Petition is the rapidly diminishing capacity of the Kenyan government to address the challenges facing Kenya and the attendant diminishing legitimacy of the Kenyan Presidency to steward the affairs of the Kenyan State and Nation.
“As a result of the multiple deficiencies of the 1 st and 2nd Respondents as President and Deputy President of Kenya, the country has experienced widespread, incessant and passionate public protests against bad governance led by the Generation Z youthful protesters demanding a re-orientation of governance in Kenya and re-establishment of government in accordance with the principles, values and ideals of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010,” read the document.
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According to the Petitioners, there is diminishing legitimacy of the incumbent government to uphold constitutional order without resort to military deployment and state-sponsored low-level terrorism.
The Petition seeks judicial intervention to prevent the current socioeconomical and political crisis from spiraling out of control and to preserve the constitutional order.
“It is obvious that unredressed economic crisis dramatically attested by the rejection of the Finance Bill, 2024 could easily trigger and expedite Kenya’s descent into a Sri-Lankan, Lebanese or Sudanese-type of State collapse and disintegration of socio-political order,” added another part of the petition.
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