The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chaired by Hon. George Murugara (Tharaka) held approval hearing for the nominee for Director Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr. Renson Mulele Ingonga.

In his remarks, Mr. Mulele told Members that if approved as the next DPP, he is committed to pursuing a three-fold agenda which includes; building a people-centred prosecution service, creating innovative prosecution framework and positioning prosecutions as an enabler of National development.

During the session, the Committee sought to know how Mr. Mulele was going to handle the recent trend of high profile cases being withdrawn for lack of evidence. 

“We have seen a number of high profile cases in court have been withdrawn for lack of evidence. Some of these withdrawals are politically instigated. If your nomination is approved, what are you going to do to stop this?,” Hon. Murugara asked.

In his response, the nominee told the Members that the power of the DPP to withdraw a court case is anchored in law and that the court first verify if the reasons given for seeking withdrawal of a case are valid or not.

He further argued that the reason why the DPP makes applications for withdrawal of cases is to save public their money in scenarios where it is discovered that there is lack of enough evidence to proceed with a case. 

The nominee assured the Committee that in his tenure if approved, there will be no political interference since he will be guided by the rule of law in execution of his duties.

“The mandate of DPP is clear. The office institutionalize any criminal proceedings other than in court marshal. It also has power to withdraw a case before court for a valid reason,” Mr. Mulele told the Committee.

The Committee also wanted to know how the nominee will ensure there will be no fallout between his office and that  of Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) as witnessed between the immediate former DCI and DPP bosses, Mr. George Kinoti and Mr.  Noordin Haji respectively.

Mr. Mulele attributed the fallout to lack of understanding of specific mandates by the two institutions. He therefore, assured the Committee that once in office he will sit with the DCI office and distinguish the mandate of each institution.