Lawyers point fingers at Tobiko as Meru courts hit by shortage of prosecutors

Courts in Meru have been hit by a shortage of prosecutors resulting to delays in handling of cases.

Litigants and Judiciary staff who have spoken to the Nation said the shortage and lack of support from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was to blame for the backlog of criminal cases.

Lawyers Calvin Otieno, Kiogora Mugambi and Peter Ndubi accused DPP Keriako Tobiko of failing to replace prosecutors who have been transferred.

“Justice for our clients has been delayed. You can appear before a magistrate to represent the accused but the court ends up fixing another date following the absence of prosecuting counsels,” said Mr Mugambi.

Meru has three high courts, six lower courts and a rotational Court of Appeal with only five prosecutors.

Prosecutors who spoke to the Nation on condition of anonymity accused the senior assistant DPP in charge of Meru of rejecting their appeal for additional staff.

VALIDATED TRANSFERS

They said the official validated the transfer of four prosecutors in 2015 who have not been replaced.

“Last year we had enough staff, but currently the DPP’s office here is understaffed. The problem has been there since January. Three prosecutors have been transferred while another went to South Africa for further studies.

“Our colleagues have been transferred with no replacement and our boss has failed to communicate to the head office about the problem we are currently experiencing,” said a prosecutor.

A senior prosecution counsel, Mugo Kariuki, was moved to Kilgoris last week making the problem worse in Meru.

DPP'S OFFICE FAILURE

“The office of the DPP has failed the judicial staff and other court users. Criminal cases cannot proceed without prosecutors,” a senior Judiciary staff at the station said.

The official also added that the DPP’s office was not relating well with the police service, leading to failure by the police to present files in court.

Contacted, senior assistant DPP Evans Onderi said he was unaware of the shortage.

“I cannot say there is any shortage because we have agreed that one court sets a day for hearing civil matters, but you find there is a magistrate who will place criminal matters on a [day set for civil cases].

If each day we can have a court handling civil matters which do not need a prosecutor, there will be no problem,” said Mr Onderi.

He confirmed that prosecutors transferred from Meru since 2015 are yet to be replaced.