The turf wars between Director of Criminal Investigations director, George Kinoti and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji have now played out in court in a rather embarrassing scenario.
Kinoti’s officers had sought to charge officials from the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority (NWHSA) without Haji’s approval.
NWHSA CEO Geoffrey Sang and five other senior officers had on Thursday last week been arrested in connection to fraud in the construction of dams.
However, when Sang and the other suspects were presented in court on Monday, the charge sheet did not have the approval of the DPP with all the charges laid out by DCI officers.
The case stalled as the DPP’s team insisted that the case file must be submitted to Haji for perusal and approval.
This is the second time that the DCI and the DPP’s teams have clashed in court after a similar scuffle in March that saw Haji’s team refuse to charge KPA Managing Director Daniel Manduku.
Principal Magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot freed Manduku after the investigating officer produced a charge sheet authorized by the DCI but which was disowned in court by the DPP office.
The incident led to a rare public interview where Kinoti decried that his officers had been frustrated and humiliated in the war against graft.
“My officers are now getting frustrated daily. They spend a lot of time investigating crime, risking their lives — and even after getting all the evidence required to prosecute cases, they are reduced to carrying files.
“It is important for Kenyans to know that my officers have done their level best. They feel betrayed. My worry is when suspects tell my officers ‘you are going nowhere’ and then it comes to pass,” Kinoti stated.
