Nyeri court fails to certify as urgent an appeal by jailed former county officials

Three former Nyeri county officials jailed on corruption-related charges will spend more nights in prison after the High Court refused to certify their appeal as urgent.

Justice Jairus Ngaah said there is nothing urgent about their appeal and directed the case to be heard on October 17.

“I have considered the issues raised this application but I have not found anything urgent to warrant it to be heard urgently,” said Justice Ngaah.

The former officials are John Mwangi Maina (land), Martin Kanjuaigwa Wamwea (finance, economy and planning) and Simon Wachira Kagiri (chief of staff).

Through lawyer Edward Oonge, the three filed a certificate of urgency on Wednesday seeking to have the chief magistrate’s judgement delivered on Monday set aside.

Mr Oonge said the magistrate erred and misdirected himself in both law and facts by convicting the three when the charges were not proved beyond reasonable doubt.

“The magistrate erred by failing to find the evidence by the prosecution could not support charges against the applicants,” said Mr Oonge.

NOT PROVEN

They are arguing that prosecutors did not prove the charges against them and that they have an arguable appeal that has high chances of succeeding.

Their lawyer wanted the case to be heard urgently and the men be released on bond terms pending the hearing of the appeal.

On Monday, Nyeri Chief Magistrate John Onyiego found them guilty of failing to comply with procurement laws and funds management procedures and jailed them for three years.

They had been charged of irregularly paying a Sh3.7 million to Pleng Limited Company.

They were fined Sh400,000 each or serve one year in jail.

Further, they were ordered to pay a double fine of Sh7.5 million or serve two years in prison.