The tug of war between the DCI and DPP played out in court on Thursday in Embakasi DCIO Samwel Mwongela’s murder case.
This is after the DPP told the court that they were shifting the investigations from the DCI to Ipoa.
The prosecution claims that Mwongela is a senior cop at DCI and his case cannot be investigated by his colleagues as they may compromise the case.
Mwongela will be charged with the murder of a night guard Lapaja Topiwo Laizer on May 13 at Red Square Hotel within Njiru area along Kangundo road.
It is alleged that said the guard was shot after he had a disagreement with the officer at 3:50am at the hotel.
Justice Lilian Mutende was told an Ipoa officer had sworn an affidavit to oppose his release on bail and not the DCI officer who carried out the investigations.
However, through his lawyer Danstan Omari, the accused opposed the move by the DPP to have Ipoa investigate the case.
Omari told court that the issue of investigation is purely an administrative process and his client is seeking indulgence on the basis that all accused persons are equal.
He dismissed the submissions by the DPP that the accused is a DCIO and a man of immense influence and therefore the DCI cannot investigate him.
“When judges are arrested they appear before their fellow judicial officers; there is no parallel Judiciary to try them, when prosecutors are arrested they are prosecuted by the state counsels from the DPPs office,” Omari posed.
He further argued that Mwongela was being discriminated against by virtue of his rank in the police service and asked the court to stand firm and protect him.
“Your honour it is public knowledge that there is a war between the DPP and the DCI that is playing out in this matter.”
He further claimed that an affidavit to oppose bail emanated from the office of the DPP instead of the DCI who are investigating the matter.
“Ipoa is being brought because the DCI investigating officer rejected an affidavit to oppose bail,” he claimed.
He accused the prosecution of acting out of malice and the person to suffer is the accused person.
But the victim’s lawyer agreed with the DPP that the case should be investigated by Ipoa and not DCI.
“We strongly support the sentiments expressed by learned counsel for the prosecution that this investigations for them to be threshold of fairness and impartiality then Ipoa to be the most ideal people to carry out the in investigations,” the court said.
He argued that Ipoa is the one providing the witnesses who are privy to occurrences of the events that transpired on the fateful night.
“It will be important for them to get involved in an exercise that is not futile because of lack of impartiality,” the court heard.
