Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo has warned that Kenya could face an unprecedented constitutional dilemma involving two individuals claiming the office of Deputy President if legal disputes surrounding former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment are not conclusively resolved.
Speaking during a Citizen TV interview on June 9, 2026, Maanzo argued that the impeachment process was flawed from the outset and will be strongly contested at the Court of Appeal and ultimately the Supreme Court.
“The impeachment itself was manufactured as state interference from the beginning,” Maanzo said, maintaining that the case raises serious questions about due process and fairness.
He insisted that the legal challenge is far from over and expressed confidence that the courts would eventually overturn aspects of the ruling.
“Whether they like it or not, when we go to the Court of Appeal, because this is a law and an infringement has been found that Rigathi Gachagua has been condemned unheard,” he stated.
Maanzo further suggested that the ongoing legal process could result in a rare constitutional standoff.
“As soon as we clear the matter at the Supreme Court, we will surely have two deputy presidents in this country. That is the status we have found ourselves in,” he added.
He emphasized the principle of fair hearing, arguing that the Senate failed to properly accommodate Gachagua during proceedings when he fell ill.
“In this particular case, there is a cardinal principle of law: you can never be condemned unheard. At the moment Rigathi Gachagua fell ill, everything should have ceased up to that moment, and we sought two or three days for him to be back on his feet, and the members rejected that on a vote,” Maanzo explained.
He maintained that the matter is nearing resolution but stressed that one key legal issue remains unsettled.
“There is hope that one day this matter will be resolved, and we are just at the tail end of it,” he said.
The remarks come in the wake of the High Court ruling delivered on June 8, 2026, which upheld Gachagua’s impeachment but awarded him Ksh50 million in damages after finding that the Senate violated his right to a fair hearing.
In its judgment, the three-judge bench ruled that while the impeachment met the constitutional threshold, procedural shortcomings, including the refusal to grant an adjournment on medical grounds, amounted to a violation of constitutional fair hearing standards.
