Just a fortnight after President William Ruto castigated the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions(ODPP), his Deputy Kithure Kindiki seems to be reading from a different script over the operational framework of the office.
Speaking during the launch of the ODPP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 in Nairobi, Kindiki maintained that the prosecutor's role should be left un-interfered with.
''The decisions you make on who to prosecute, which prosecution to terminate, those, nobody should interfere with that decisional independence,'' Kindiki stated.
''Independent institutions and offices are independent in four aspects, decisional independence, that you have the independent decision to act without interference from any authority or quotas,'' he added.
This comes just 13 days after President Ruto while giving the State of the Nation Address at the National Assembly on November 21, faulted the ODPP and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for failing to prosecute graft suspects. He further pointed an accusatory finger at the Judiciary for not concluding graft cases fast enough.
''It cannot be the case that the director of public prosecutions keeps dropping cases because somehow they are unable to produce witnesses. It also cannot be the case that corruption suspects rush to court to obtain anticipatory bail that shields them from due process and enables them to compromise investigations,'' Ruto stated.
The Head of State highlighted that anti-graft measures ''will only achieve intended results if and only if institutions charged with integrity stop hiding the transparent screen of independence and rise to meet people’s expectations on matters of integrity.''
He questioned how the prosecution agencies kept on dropping cases because it could not avail witnesses or produce sufficient evidence on graft and corruption cases.
Kindiki at the same time stated that independent offices and institutions should be let to their structures without undue influence.
According to Kindiki, for the ODPP to operate independently, the office should be let to run its affairs including managing its finances.
''You also have an administrative independence whereby the ODPP as an independent institution must run its administratively under the chain of command that is established,'' the DP added.
Kindiki however challenged the ODPP to rise above its drawbacks and help in redefining the legal sector of the country.
