The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on Wednesday, October 12, withdrew the Ksh19 million graft case against Public Service Cabinet Secretary nominee Aisha Jumwa.
Reports indicated that the DPP withdrew the charges under Section 87 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) which allows a public prosecutor to withdraw prosecution of any person at any time before judgment is delivered.
In addition, only one witness had testified before Mombasa Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku.
Jumwa was implicated in the Ksh19 million fraud case where she was accused of taking part in unlawful transactions in Malindi's Constituency Development Fund (CDF). She was accused alongside seven others.
The former Malindi Member of Parliament was also charged with conflict of interest, acquisition of proceeds of crime as well as money laundering.
The case had dragged in court since 2019 when the prosecutor pressed the charges. Jumwa is among president William Ruto's Cabinet Secretary nominees with active court cases.
The Azimio la Umoja-OKA had castigated the list, noting that some nominees ought not to be cleared by Parliament on integrity grounds.
"If our colleagues in the National Assembly stay true to their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, more than half of those criminals proposed should not make it to Cabinet," Orange Democratic Party Secretary General Edwin Sifuna initially stated.
Kenya Kwanza proponents, however, came to their defense, saying that the past cases were malicious and politically instigated by the previous regime.
Aside from Jumwa, Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi was charged with attempted rape in a hotel in Nanyuki. The former Senator rubbished the claims, terming them a political witch-hunt.
He was subsequently released on a Ksh500,000 case bond.
On Monday, October 3, the woman who had accused Linturi withdrew the case after they settled the matter out of court.
