Political leaders have vehementlr reacted towards the recent decisions made by the Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji to dropped the charges on graft cases.
While reacting to the move, former Azimio presidential running mate Martha Karua termed the move by Dpp to withdraw Ksh.19M graft case against the cabinet secretary nominee, Aisha Jumwa as impunity of the highest order. The former Malindi member of parliament was also accused of murder case. “Impunity reloaded? but see no evil, hear no evil.” tweeted Martha Karua on Wednesday.
Despite the charges, Aisha Jumwa was nominated as Public Service and Gender cabinet secretary by President William Ruto.
She is among the 22 nominated cabinet secretaries who will be vetted by the National Assembly before they assume office as part of the requirements to enforce ethics and integrity.
However, the Azimio MPs have vowed to conduct a grueling vetting process for the 22 nominees.
On Thursday, Haji also withdrew the Sh400 million graft case against former Kenya Power MD Ben Chumo who had been charged alongside Muwa Company Limited and 10 others. Chumo was charged in court for willful failure to comply with procurement procedures in the purchase of transformers in 2018.
Narok Senator Olekina Ledama, on the other hand, has allegedly claimed that Kenya’s criminal justice system is under state capture. Ledama argues that the decision made by the DPP to dismiss the graft cases makes no sense , noting that the DCI consumed state funds to conduct investigations into such allegations before relaying its findings to the ODPP for prosecution.
“Our criminal justice system is being remote-controlled because the DCI investigates… When the person who is supposed to prosecute, the DPP, goes out and throws these charges that the DCI has taken so much time to be able to investigate it really beats the purpose of having a criminal justice system,” Ledama said.
However, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei defended the Noordin Haji saying that the DPP has the right to withdraw any case that he believes cannot hold up in court. When speaking to a local Tv station
Wednesday morning, Cherargei argued that the cases being withdrawn by the DPP lacked evidence and that is why they are collapsing. “If the DPP has looked at the file and assessed it and it does not meet the standard that can go to court, then the DPP has the right to withdraw the case,” he said.
