The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) should not delegate high-profile corruption cases to his juniors, an MP has said.
Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo (pictured) accused DPP Noordin Haji of being “court shy,” raising public expectation through the media and eventually blaming the courts when he fails to get a conviction.
“When you go for high cases, you need the person who was approved by Parliament to be the chief prosecutor to do it. You need Kenyans to see that we appointed this man as our DPP to prosecute and he’s now prosecuting,” he said.
“If you keep delegating then it begs the question: Were you the proper person to be appointed as the prosecutor or it’s the other person that you are delegating to?” Mr Amollo added.
The lawmaker, however, commended Haji’s efforts in the fight against graft citing the recent arrest of Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, his Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge and a host of other senior government officials.
Political responsibility
“He’s one of those lawyers who has not been quite in practice of law ... to the best of my knowledge, I don’t think he has practised in court before he was appointed,” he said.
“That’s why I think he has been court shy, but one thing I can see from all his endeavours is that he has the courage to go for anybody irrespective of their station and that is a good thing,” said the ODM legislator.
The MP, who is a senior lawyer and was at the centre of the 2017 NASA Presidential election petition that overturned President Uhuru Kenyatta’s August 2017 win, was speaking at Point Blank, a political show hosted by Tony Gachoka that aired on KTN News last night.
Amollo commented on various topical issues including the looming referendum and the dispute on the Division of Revenue Bill that has seen governors move to the Supreme Court.
Amollo said that there should be “political responsibility” for both elected and appointed leaders accused of graft to step aside but added that some cases differed.
“It’s a good principle of law and politics that if you are charged with corruption-related matters then you ought to step aside,” he said.
“However, that principle must be tempered with reality there are several offices which that principle becomes hard to exercise ... must be based on a case by case,” added Amollo.
On governors stepping aside due to graft charges, the lawmaker said it was becoming murkier to ensure that a vacuum was not left in the county especially since most governors worked closely with their deputies and both might be arrested at once.
The Constitution states that deputy governors automatically take charge should a governor step aside or die.
He said that he advocated for decorum during high profile arrests, but warned that if governors “hide” after an arrest warrant is issued it would lend credibility to ambushes.
Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu, who is currently facing graft charges, was sought after by authorities for almost two days before he presented himself to detectives at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
“Unfortunately it becomes a factor in considering bail because you’ve demonstrated that you are a flight risk and you make the court, therefore, be inclined not to grant you bail,” said Amollo.
He also warned the DPP against lumping up too many people in court and instead focus on a few who are the most culpable.
“For very many cases he brings too many people to court with very many charges whenever you bring like 50 – 60 people to court and the charges are like a hundred chances of all of them going scot-free are usually very high you must always look at the highest culpability take a few people who are most culpable solidify the evidence and charges. That is the right approach,” Amollo added.
He also said that a revamped Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and DPP had “awakened EACC from slumber” and now EACC had the guts to go after high profile individuals.
The MP dismissed the Punguzo Mizigo Bill that is pushing for a referendum and said that the Building Bridges (BBI) Initiative is Kenya’s best bet.
He said that the Ekuro Aukot-led Bill was too academic and lacked public participation.
“Punguza Mizigo is a Bill that promises more than what it delivers (and) misleads people about its intentions. We do not know who Aukot sat with to generate that Bill. He simply wrote it, generated signatures and sent it to IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission),” said Amollo.
He estimated that the country could have a BBI pushed referendum by June next year as the team is expected to present its report to President Kenyatta and Raila by October.
BBI was formed as a result of last year’s political truce - handshake - between Uhuru and Raila on March 9.
“A supposition that we’ll be looking at a referendum next year is a logical and legal one,” said Amollo.
On the Division of Revenue Bill, the MP said that was no need for governors to go to the Supreme Court as the matter could have been resolved through dialogue.
The governors went to the apex court seeking is opinion on how the 47 counties should share revenue from the national government. They also hope to resolve the perennial superiority conflict between the Senate and National Assembly over budgetary allocation to counties.
The dispute was caused by Sh310 billion allocated to counties. The Senate had proposed Sh335 billion while the National Assembly approved Sh316 billion. A mediation committee settled on Sh327 billion, but the governors claimed Treasury has refused to release the funds.
