Kethi Kilonzo petitions DPP over electoral fraud case

awyer Kethi Kilonzo is seeking to know whether a manager of the electoral agency whom she was charged with four years ago will have his case withdrawn or not.

In a letter to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), lawyers representing Ms Kilonzo want to know the DPP’s position following a request by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to have the case against her co-accused withdrawn.

The IEBC had on August 23 last year written to the DPP requesting to have the case against Godfrey Ninito Lemiso, a manager for electoral planning and logistics, withdrawn.

In the letter, signed by former chairman Ahmed Isaack Hassan, the IEBC had explained that the request should not be construed to mean that the complaint against Mr Lemiso was unfounded or the one against Ms Kilonzo has no merit.

RIGHT TO KNOW

But according to Ms Kilonzo, she has never been informed about the DPP’s response to the letter and hence the concern raised by her lawyers in the case in which she is accused of stealing a voter registration document.

“Our client is affected by the decisions of your office and having mentioned expressly, we have a right to know or be informed of the decision taken by your office and the reasons thereto,” said lawyers Fred Ojiambo and Julie Soweto.

The case was mentioned on May 27 and prosecutors told the court that the DPP had responded to the IEBC and that the same information had been communicated to both Ms Kilonzo and Mr Lemiso.

But the contents of the letter from Ms Kilonzo's lawyers indicate that she is not aware of the DPP’s directive regarding the matter.

NO WITHDRAWAL

“Kindly share with us the DPP’s response to the letter by IEBC; when the case was last mentioned in court on May 27, you informed court that it had been shared with defence counsels. We are yet to have sight of the aforementioned,” said Ms Soweto.

According to state lawyer Warui Mungai, the DPP had indicated that the case against both accused persons would proceed and that there would be no withdrawal.

In the IEBC letter, the commission had also explained that the agency would have liked to utilize the services of Mr Lemiso during the August 8 polls in logistics since he is fully competent in that area.

The IEBC claimed that he is currently paid only a half of his salary and that the commission is incurring a double loss by paying him for services he is not rendering.

STEALING

“In view of that, we wish to request you (DPP) if legally tenable, to severe the charges facing the two accused and proceed to withdraw those against Mr Lemiso,” the letter read.

Ms Kilonzo and Mr Lemiso are facing four counts of stealing, handling stolen goods, uttering a false document and neglect of official duty.

They were charged in 2013 and pleaded not guilty to the offenses.

The trial is scheduled to resume on November 7.