Police push to charge Kethi Kilonzo with theft and forgery

Kethi Kilonzo (second left)  with her lawyers Haron Ndubi (left), Daniel Maanzo and Julie Soweto  at CID headquarters last week.  [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

By Pamela Chepkemei, Isaiah Lucheli and Cyrus Ombati

NAIROBI; KENYA: Police want lawyer Kethi Kilonzo and an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) official charged with theft and forgery linked to her disputed electoral registration card.

Detectives at CID headquarters recommended to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that the two face the charges in a file forwarded on Monday.

DPP Keriako Tobiko has since appointed a team of three lawyers to look into the police file.

Under the penal code, forging any judicial or official document and presenting it officially attracts up to seven years in in prison.

Police handling the case have so far concluded that Kethi and Mr Geoffrey Lemiso, who is a custodian at IEBC where the green book was stored, have a case to answer in regard to the ongoing investigations.

Yesterday, an anticipatory bail application by Kethi to bar police from arresting her was been certified urgent.

Kethi through lawyers Harun Ndubi and Julie Soweto told the court that security forces had been painting her as a fugitive and have been using powers to arrest to threaten, intimidate, humiliate and embarrass her other than to uphold the rule of law.

The lawyer submitted that she was seeking the anticipatory bail to dispel any notions that she was a fugitive and to enable her attend to her other obligations as an advocate without fear of being harassed.

“The applicant is a law abiding citizen and is ready to face any criminal charges that may be brought against her,” Kethi said in the application.

Kethi has sued the Republic of Kenya, Inspector General of Police and DPP.

In a sworn affidavit, Kethi submitted that she was apprehensive police intended to institute criminal charges and proceedings against her going by the information that they had released in media.

In the media

“In spite of an agreement with the CID on when I would attend pursuant to summons they had issued, the police gave the media information that was widely published that I had refused to appear before them,” she stated. The lawyer is being accused of having obtained an acknowledgement slip fraudulently from a book that had been used to register retired President Mwai Kibaki only.

Her application for bail will be heard today. Lemiso, who has been questioned several times, said he does not know how the book disappeared.

 He is said to have mentioned other senior officials at the Commission and asked that they be questioned, but none of them has so far been summoned.

Kethi appeared before CID detectives handling her case last week, but refused to record a statement. Makueni County returning officer Guracha Salad Boru has in his statement admitted that he went ahead to clear and accept Kethi’s nomination papers even though he knew she was not a registered voter.