Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, and Attorney General, Paul Kihara Kariuki, risk jail term over a past shooting incident that occurred on Mombasa Road.
The High Court on Monday, October 18, ordered the duo to appear before it for sentencing regarding the matter and contempt of court.
The summons and looming jail time follow government failure to pay ksh5.3 million in compensation to Lucy Nduta Ng’ang’a, who had sued over the death of her relative.
On the matter, Justice John Mativo had directed the two senior government officials to come to court as earlier instructed.
“On July 29, the court ordered Mr. Kibicho and the AG to appear before it. The order remains in force. The said persons are required to appear in court on November 2 at 8 am,” Justice Mativo stated.
Justice Mativo was informed that both Kibicho and AG were willing to pay the claimant on September 20. However, the court was told that the payment was not yet processed on September 28.
Confirming the failure to pay, Ng'ang'a lawyer Origi Owino told the court that indeed the payment was not made.
“Direct the respondents (the AG and Kibicho) to appear before you in two weeks’ time for mitigation and sentencing,” Owino told the court.
In August, the AG had sought more time to compensate the claimant. He also filed for the prosecution to be suspended to allow the government to finalise plans to pay Ng'ang'a.
The compensation emanated from an incident where Edward Ng’ang’a Kuria was unlawfully shot dead by a police officer on September 24, 2009, while driving on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
Ng'ang'a who was acting as a representative of a deceased's estate, told the court that police used excessive force, breached arrest procedures, and acted negligently and illegally in shooting Kuria, aged 32.
In 2016, she was awarded Ksh5.6 million in compensation but she has not received payment from the government. This has forced her to be in a legal battle with the AG and Kibicho.
She pleaded with the court to jail the duo. However, the court maintained that the two can only be jailed after they present themselves before the presiding judge which they have not done.
