The collapse of the case against Deputy Chief Justice Philemona Mwilu puts the spotlight on the quality of investigations and prosecutions. On Friday, judges took a swipe at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Director of Public Prosecution for poor investigations and abuse of the court process respectively. This is a serious indictment on these crucial offices and undermines public confidence in them.
The arrest and subsequent charging of Ms Mwilu in court last year was dramatic. It demonstrated determination by the authorities to deal with corruption in high places. The message was loud and clear — no one was untouchable in the war against the vice. And that is what the public wanted.
However, the outcome of the case is an anti-climax. All the hype was baseless. And what does that mean for other pending cases?
Inability to conduct proper investigations and using defective evidence to prosecute cases are manifestations of professional dereliction. This derails the war against corruption. When investigators and prosecutors are unable to do their work properly, then the war against corruption cannot be won. All the cases stand to fall in court and that has the effect of emboldening culprits; that one can do anything and get away with it because the responsible agencies are deficient in their work.
For nearly a year, the DCI and DPP have been working in overdrive to rein in the corrupt and have the suspects tried and punished. Many top government officials and heads of parastatals have been arrested and taken to court over various allegations. However, none has been convicted because of lack of evidence, an expression of poor investigations and prosecutions.
Not that the DCI’s and DPP’s offices lack investigators and prosecutors. They have resources and political goodwill. And the public is behind them. In fact, in this particular case, DPP even hired a London-based lawyer to lead the prosecution, at a huge cost to the taxpayers. That, in itself, was a subject of serious contestation.
As we have argued before, these blunders by the DCI and DPP cannot be by default. We cannot rule out that the cases are deliberately bungled or are triggered by other extraneous motives, hence cannot withstand the test of truth. Whatever the case, these are not good signs.
Now, there is risk many other corruption cases pending before the courts may end up crumbling, which is bad for the country. Failure to prosecute and punish the corrupt is a disservice to the country. Corruption is the single greatest threat to the economy and national development. Kenyans have placed their hopes in the courts to punish the corrupt and, if that fails, then everything is lost.
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