The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution on Wednesday launched an election call centre ahead of Tuesday’s August 9, 2022, general elections.
DPP Noordin Hajj said the centre will help bridge the gap between what is happening at the police station and what is happening on the ground during the electioneering period.
“The purpose is to have us as the ODPP because we are the ones mandated to direct investigations even where the police have not commenced,” he said.
“Time has no expiry date. This will allow us to plan and to give justice to every person who has brought a complaint and has not been able to,” Haji added.
The DPP highlighted that in the centre, they will be feeding three categories of reports which will help the ODPP to get charge sheets ready as well as looked into reported cases that have not been attended to.
“We will have three categories; information from the media, public and police and this will help to correlate with what kinds of crimes we are getting in terms of charge sheets."
This will help to bridge the gap that has been there where an individual says a crime has occurred but nothing has been done.
Haji has called upon Kenyans and Civil societies to share election complaints with the office of DPP, saying the office is ready to deal with all of them post-election.
He called upon the participants to be impartial and meticulous in the execution of their duties to promote confidence in the electoral process and the criminal justice sectors.
Last month, Haji launched a 24 hours ODPP elections toll-free line which will help to streamline accessibility to citizens on election-related matters.
This will assist to enhance their capability to receive and respond to questions and complaints incidental to the general elections.
The digital platform will help in facilitating real-time mapping out of the potential hotspots and prompt deployment of the appropriate response mechanisms
Haji said that his office has developed and implemented key policies and strategies to facilitate prompt response to election-related offences.
