The impeachment hearings of Kericho Governor Eric Mutai have been scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday next week at the Senate.

According to Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, the governor and other parties involved in the proceedings have until Monday, August 25, to respond to matters arising in the impeachment.

“The parties will file responses with the office of the clerk of the Senate by Monday, August 25, by 5 PM. The clerk will circulate documents received from the parties, including the plenary hearing programme, to all senators by close of business on Tuesday,” said Kingi.

Additionally, the Senate resolved to investigate and determine the allegations raised against the governor in plenary, where all the members will participate.

This is after a motion seeking to have the matter heard by an 11-member special committee flopped.

Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot sponsored the motion, but Minority Leader Stewart Madzayo declined to second it, forcing a withdrawal, leaving plenary as the only alternative.

Meanwhile, the Kericho Senator has insisted that he has no hand in the spirited efforts to oust the governor and won’t be using the impeachment to settle local county politics.

“I can already hear what people are saying, including those asking me to declare my interest in this matter. I have no peculiar interest other than justice for the people of Kericho,” said Cheruiyot.

33 out of 47 members of the Kericho County Assembly voted to impeach Mutai after their previous attempt was reversed by the Senate in October 2024 due to technicalities.

The MCAs have accused the county boss of gross constitutional violations, illegal tender awards, and misconduct in public office.

Governor Mutai has denied any wrongdoing.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has responded to Chief Justice Martha Koome’s concerns over cyberbullying targeting judicial officers, noting that the issue extends to all public servants, including the President.

Speaking in Nyandarua County during the launch of a grassroots security engagement programme, Murkomen acknowledged that the Chief Justice was justified in raising the matter but stressed that judges are not the only ones subjected to online harassment.

“Nobody in Kenya is bullied more than the President. Bullying is a very serious crime that we are abetting,” Murkomen said, adding that after the President, politicians and security officers are next in line.

The CS noted that police officers, too, are frequently targeted online, sometimes with their families being dragged into the fray.

“Even police officers are bullied all the time — their names and even their children’s names are publicised. My message to the Chief Justice is that we are all being bullied,” he said.

“The only difference is that, as Judiciary, you have normalised the bullying of the Legislature and Executive.”

Murkomen added that judicial officers are often unsympathetic when others face harassment, citing instances where courts dismiss charges related to online bullying as attacks on free speech.

“When officers charge someone with bullying, magistrates and judges say we are attacking freedoms. I’m glad the Chief Justice has spoken about bullying. It is time this country has an open conversation about it.”

His remarks come a day after Chief Justice Koome, while opening the 2025 Judges’ Colloquium in Nairobi, raised concern over what she termed a rising wave of coordinated online attacks against judges.

“This sustained social media onslaught is not merely a passing wave of criticism; it is a calculated attempt to weaken the moral authority of the Judiciary and to intimidate judges into silence or into bending the law,” CJ Koome said.

She warned that such attacks are eroding public confidence in the justice system, stressing that defamatory content targeting individual judges should not be mistaken for legitimate criticism.