Ruling on Ruto’s land case haunts magistrate

Updated 1 hr(s) 23 min(s) ago

By  FELIX OLICK

A land case in which Eldoret North MP William Ruto was acquitted for lack of evidence haunted a magistrate during Judicial Service Commission interviews for High Court judges.

Chief Magistrate Gilbert Mutembei was put to task to explain why Ruto, who was charged alongside former Lands Commissioner Sammy Mwaita and Mr Joshua Kulei, were acquitted without a witness giving evidence.

High Court Judge Isaac Lenaola quizzed the magistrate why he made the ruling before all the evidence was adduced, saying additional witnesses could have changed the ruling.

Commissioner Ahmednassir Abdulahi challenged the magistrate to explain why the Judiciary was becoming a conveyor belt for acquitting suspects, saying there were allegations one of the witnesses was given a job by the accused person.

However, Mutembei defended himself saying his ruling was based on the evidence before court. He observed that the Judiciary should device a method of sieving evidence before it is brought to court.

But Chief Justice Willy Mutunga challenged Mutembei saying he could have invoked Section 150 of the Criminal Law to order the witness to appear before court.

“You could have used the law if you felt that the prosecution was not doing enough,” said Mutunga, adding that it was clear bias to see the court being manipulated.

Ruto, Kulei and  Mwaita had been accused of fraudulently obtaining Sh272 million from the Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC) by selling its land in Ngong.

Another case that haunted Mutembei was that of Malili Ranch.

Mutembei acquitted some of the officials accused by shareholders of selling the ranch without their consent.

Biased ruling

One of the complainants had written a letter to the Chief Justice claiming that the ruling was biased.

The letter read to Mutembei by Ahmednasir said corruption within the Judiciary has been legalised only that it was not gazetted.

The complainant noted that the accused could have been sentenced to prison but Mutembei instead acquitted them.

But Mutembei maintained that the investigating officer found no evidence incriminating the officials.