KENYAN DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION NOORDIN HAJI MUST WORK WITH DIRECTOR OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS GEORGE KENOTI TO BE SUCCESSFUL

KENYAN DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION NOORDIN HAJI MUST WORK WITH DIRECTOR OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS GEORGE KENOTI TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN HIS WORK

By Charles Odhiambo (African Times Guest Writer)

The prosecution remains one of the most

critical agents of any Criminal Justice System

but it appears that in Kenya, we are yet to fully

understand and internalise what a system is,

how it should look like and even how it

operates.

To start with, a system is ‘A set of things

working together as parts of a mechanism or

an interconnecting network’

The drafters of our constitution under article

157 envisioned a country where the prosecution

would be a critical player in a functional

‘system’. Sadly, this is not the current state of

affairs in this country.

Instead, the agencies of the Criminal Justice

System are engaged in an unhealthy supremacy

wars and sibling rivalry that does not add value

to the justice system. The results of this

squabble, are predictable and can be foreseen

thanks to the high rate of corruption.

In launching the ‘decision to charge guidelines’,

the prosecutor is strictly following the letter and

spirit of the constitution and nobody can blame

him for that. But the immediate question that

comes to mind is ‘Is this the correct timing?’. To

start with the workload associated with the

ODPP is very high and they are almost

overwhelmed.

The net effect of the guidelines are that

investigators’ role is reduced to collection and

collation of facts before presenting the files to

the office of the ODPP for a decision on

whether to charge or not. Now this is the

theoretical and easier bit of it.

Within Nairobi County Kenya , the police

stations present before court several

suspects in a bid to comply with the 24 hour

rule as stipulated in the constitution.

All the files of fresh cases, the prosecutor

has to peruse at before they are registered and

same prosecutor proceeds to prosecute

other matters before court by exactly 9am every

morning. Already court users would tell you that

the officers are overwhelmed with the existing

volume of work and there is no quality time to

conduct pre-trials. Despite the police drafting

the charge sheets and only presenting them for

approval.

Will the ODPP with the current strength and

establishment be able to peruse all these files

swiftly and ensure that the wheels of justice do

not grind to a halt because of the case backlog?

Where does this leave the police? Because of

this arrangement and in compliance with the 24

hour constitutional requirement, they will be

forced to either arrest suspects and release

them on bail or not arrest them at all until the

Office of the Deputy Public Prosecution (ODPP)

okays their arrest.

The net effect is that Kenyans must be ready to

see situations where they will reach out to the

police but only to be turned down because of

the beaurocracies that go with prosecution. We

are likely to witness further loss of faith and

trust in the Criminal Justice System given the

reality that in Kenya, we are a people that

largely depend on the police action to guarantee

compliance with almost anything.

My take though is that we must look at the

Criminal Justice System wholesomely as we

attempt to make changes because ultimately a

change in one part of the system has a cause

and effect in other parts of the same system.

Just like the vehicle braking system, replacing

new pads without putting in sufficient break

fluid may not guarantee you an accident free

journey.

For as long as the agencies of the CJS engage

in unhealthy competition and sibling rivalry, the

path to achieving justice for the ordinary citizen

could remain a pipe dream.

(Charles Odhiambo is the Director, Crime sight

Solutions)