• DPP wants corrupt politicians and officers to pay back three times what they have stolen.
• Akasha made a plea bargain in the US but was still sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Various politicians charged with fraud want to pay back the money in exchange for their cases being dropped.
On Wednesday DPP Noordin Haji said he would consider plea bargains but the sum returned should be three times the amount stolen (see P6).
Last week Haji said plea bargains could decongest courts. However, some politicians immediately thought that simply paying back stolen money would be a quick and easy way to close their cases. The DPP has just squashed that idea.
And He is right to do so. Chances are if someone is charged with stealing Sh100 that he/she actually grabbed a lot more. Demanding Sh300 in a plea bargain is natural justice.
Nor should a plea bargain be a way to escape justice. In August Baktash Akasha made a plea bargain with American prosecutors in exchange for information about his associates but he still received a 25-year prison sentence.
A plea bargain must still hurt. DPP Haji's demand to pay back triple the amount stolen is appropriate.
Quote of the day: "Men of success meet with tragedy. It was the will of God that I won the Olympics, and it was the will of God that I met with my accident."
Abebe Bikila
The Ethiopian marathon runner died on October 25, 1973