Bribery charges against education officer reinstated

The High Court has reinstated corruption-related charges levelled against a senior education officer in Marsabit county.

Justice John Onyiego set aside the decision of the trial court in Isiolo and directed the case to proceed from where it had reached.

“It is my finding that the trial court improperly and incorrectly acquitted Salesa Adano Abudo. I hereby direct the original file be returned to the trial court for mention and further directions as soon as possible. The hearing of the case should be expedited without further delay,” he ruled on April 8.

The case had been terminated by Isiolo chief magistrate Samuel Mungai. It will now be handled by another magistrate at the Isiolo law courts.

Salesa was in July 2017 arraigned in Isiolo with two related counts of corruption. It is alleged that he gave Justus Nzomo, the IEBC coordinator for Saku constituency in Marsabit county, Sh200,000 as an inducement.

The money was to cause Nzomo to pick persons who Salesa preferred to be appointed as presiding officers during the general election.

Salesa pleaded denied the charges and was released on a personal bond of Sh300,000.

But before the matter could take off, Salesa’s lawyer complained that he had not been supplied with witness statements and exhibits. He subsequently applied to have his client discharged or acquitted.

The prosecution indicated that they had not received the file from then-Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko. They requested for one more month to comply with the court's directions. An adjournment was granted to enable them to report on the position of exhibits and fix the hearing date.

When the matter was mentioned again a month later,  the prosecution applied for another adjournment. They claimed consent had been delayed following the elevation of the DPP to the position of Cabinet Secretary.

The same was opposed by Salesa and in a short ruling, the trial court on February 12 dismissed the prosecution's application and discharged the accused.

Aggrieved by that decision, the DPP and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission sought a review.  

The anti-graft agency claimed they forwarded a preliminary report to the DPP who concurred with the investigations and recommended for Salesa to be charged.

“We subsequently embarked on preparation and submission of a final report which we forwarded to the DPP for review but the same could not be acted upon as the DPP had vacated the office following his appointment,” the EACC said.

But Onyiego said that on the day the matter was terminated, there was no hearing scheduled only a mention to confirm compliance of court directives. He said the court had no power to apply section 210 of the Criminal Procedure  Code to make final orders as it did.

The section he said, only applies to situations where the prosecution has been given an opportunity to present their case, tendered evidence and then a ruling by the court.

“The proper procedure would have been for the court to fix the case for hearing and then on the hearing date demand for the prosecution to either comply with its directions and proceed with the case,” he said.  

Edited by A.N