3 MONTHS

The government has intensified efforts to reduce the backlog of corruption related cases in the country's courts.

The new procedures to be unveiled by Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo next week will see corruption cases being wound up in less than 3 months.

The new development announced by government spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua comes amid concerns by the Orange Democratic Movement party on the slow process of prosecuting past corrupt cases.

Speaking during a media briefing Mutua said corruption cases will take a maximum of three months for a verdict to be reached while appeals will take six months.

"...The Government is finalizing modalities so that once a corruption case starts, it continues every day without being adjourned/deferred until the case is concluded and there is a verdict. If there is an appeal, the same procedure would also apply."

"Therefore, it would mean that cases can take less than three months to be concluded and corrupt individuals will not be given a chance to use their illegally acquired money to fight justice."

He added that this will be achieved by hearing corruption cases daily without breaking sessions which have been slowing the wheels of justice.

"The time it takes to reach a verdict allows corruption suspects to spend the stolen money on buying out witnesses thus dragging justice," he said.

He said that the judicial process has previously been slowed by the frequent postponements caused by missing witnesses and lack of enough evidence which are attributed to buying out of witnesses.

Mutua's announcement comes at a time when the public is losing trust in government's commitment to fighting corruption because corruption cases are dragging in court with those charged continuing to hold public offices.

The corruption ghost that had so permeated the country before the coming to power of the NARC government in 2002 was reawakened this week following revelations of the Nairobi cemetery scandal.

A report released by the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission detailed how senior officials from the ministry of local government and the Nairobi City Council planned to defraud the government of over 200 million shillings.

This is just one of several corruption scandals that have rocked the coalition government in the recent past.

Among the most notable scandals is the loss of billions of shillings in the Triton Oil scandal, the maize scam, the loss of millions of shillings meant for the resettlement of the Internally Displaced Persons and the loss of the Free Primary Education funds.

The latest report which touched on Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi however has raised mixed reactions across the political divide with ODM alleging that the anti corruption body was being arm twisted for political leverage.

Mutua is however quick to assure Kenyans that the government has not given up on the fight against the vice.

According to Mutua, a major announcement will be made next week detailing new procedures to speed up dispensation of corruption cases.

The president has already suspended 13 public officers implicated in the cemetery scandal as investigations continues.

Also suspended are senior officers in the ministries of education and special programmes, the Prime Minister's office and the Kenya Cereals and Produce Board.