This has been a bad year for Migori Governor Zakary Okoth Obado. Maybe hell has opened lose ready to devour him alive. Will he really survive?
Obado has been a friend to the courts, since the start of Sharon’s murder case probe which he is alleged to be part of the planning and execution Obado has been a common face in different courts.
Maybe the crocodiles he mentioned are really haunting him or the prayers he called for did not reach the heavens.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has expressed his displeasure over the manner in which the courts have been handling cases against high-profile individuals.
Citing an example of the case against Migori Governor Okoth Obado, who is facing charges of murder and is being probed for alleged corruption and possession of questionable firearms, the DPP said the county boss was granted “wanting” bail terms by the court.
Mr. Haji wondered why the courts are allowing State officers to go back to their offices despite being indicted for serious offences, adding that as a country “we must have standards.”
‘We must have standards!’ DPP Noordin Haji explodes over the ‘wanting bail terms’ for Governor Obado. Questions why a murder suspect addressed an international donors meeting.
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“I am actually concerned on this, we have taken cases to court, we have charged individuals be it governors or constitutional office holders or the Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ) herself. My concern is this. Most of them still remain in office. And the sad thing is that we still have orders to allow them to enjoy whatever it is and these orders are coming from the courts,” said the DPP.
“Some of the bail terms for example in a particular murder case to do with the governor are wanting. You saw him making presentations before development partners and this is somebody facing a murder charge, investigations on corruption… this is somebody who was found with unexplained guns in his premises.”
He added: “We must have standards and those standards need to be applied across board and the courts need to help us.”
The State prosecutor said while the presumption of “innocent until proven guilty” is in the law, the same law allows for public officers to step down when charged with offenses until they are cleared of any wrongdoing.
“There is the issue of innocent until proven guilty, but our laws are clear that they (public officers) need to step aside until the issue is adjudicated upon.
“This is about the law. We have tried to make the courts see sense in interpreting this. But you have people going back to office and using their offices to subvert investigations and legal provisions that have allowed us to charge them,” he said.
DPP Noordin Haji: As prosecutors, it is our responsibility to go through whatever evidence that is presented before us. It would be a failure on our part to accept cases that have weak evidence #NewsNight pic.twitter.com/oNGGQ1gRfX
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) November 20, 2018
Mr. Haji says he will be petitioning Parliament to review the law and have it be paramount that State officers step down once they are indicted for various crimes.
Do you agree with DPP that once someone is alleged to be involved in massive crime cases he/she should step down to allow investigation?