A Senate watchdog Committee has scheduled a meeting with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga to shed light on the circumstances under which 18 criminal cases touching on county governments were withdrawn and the suspects discharged.

The cases concerned County Executives and County Assemblies.

 The County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) expressed concern that the cases were withdrawn yet, it is not clear who should be held culpable despite billions of taxpayers’ money was lost.

The decision to invite the DPP was arrived after meeting with the leadership of Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over the state of cases that the Committee has referred to the agency since 2013.

The agency’s CEO Abdi Mohamed told the Committee that despite the cases being withdrawn, the office of the DPP has never bothered to consult or provide details of the reasons behind the withdrawal.

“While we are not questioning the withdrawal of the cases, it is our humble plea that as investigators, they should be courteous and inform us when making the withdrawals,” said Mr Mohamed during the meeting.

In the report submitted to the Committee, the EACC had withdrawn 18 criminal cases, out of which 17 were maters withdrawn from court by the DPP.

In only one case that consent was issued and subsequently withdrawn by the DPP.

Isiolo County has the highest number of withdrawn cases at 3, while Makueni, Tharaka Nithi, Garissa, Turkana, Nakuru, Nyeri, Embu, Kericho, Nyamira, Kitui, Taita Taveta, Kwale, Meru and Kakamega had one case each.

Challenged by Senator Okongo Omogeni to explain whether there is a general prosecutor problem in Kenya, the EACC leadership were non committal, but urged the lawmakers to consider amending the law to allow them to prosecute their cases.

“There is a problem in the prosecution and we need to admit,” said Senator Omogeni, adding that the solution does not lie in sweeping the problems under the carpet.

“There is a clear disconnect between the office of the DPP and the EACC,” he argued.

But Mr Mohamed insisted that they have no control on the question of withdrawal of cases. “The constitution has given the DPP the power to withdraw the criminal cases and there is nothing we can do about it,” he explained, adding that they cannot force a reluctant prosecutor.

He told the Committee that the agency receives up to 3,000 complaints every day. The complaints emanate from the Senate, National Assembly, Office of the Auditor General and members of the public.

But he revealed that the EACC lacks the technical capacity to deal with the huge number of complaints.

“We have only 200 investigators across the country which is a tall order to probe all the complaints,” he said.

To address the challenge of capacity, he said the EACC has developed a policy to prioritise the cases based on public interest, value for money and prominence of those against whom complaints are filed. 

Mr David Oginde, the EACC chair, said the legal regime governing prosecutorial powers must to help the Commission achieve its mandate.