DPP right on Baraza, says Muite

Posted by BERNARD MOMANYI on February 3, 2012

Nancy Baraza and Rebecca Kerubo/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 3 – Lawyer Paul Muite has welcomed the decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions to await the conclusion of a tribunal probing the conduct of suspended deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza before he decides whether to charge her.

Muite who is representing the Judicial Service Commission in a court case she has filed challenging the tribunal appointed to probe her conduct, said she would be subjected to double jeopardy if parallel legal processes are allowed to continue.

“On the basis of the foregoing, I find the decision of the DPP to await the decision of the High Court on the petition and the decision of the tribunal before deciding whether or not to prefer charges eminently sensible and appropriate,” Muite said in a statement.

DPP Keriako Tobiko announced on Wednesday that he would await the decision of the High Court on Baraza’s petition and the decision of the tribunal before he makes his decision.

Read Tobiko’s decision here.

In the statement, Muite said: “Criminal proceedings against the Deputy Chief Justice at this point in time concurrently with petition and tribunal hearings has the potential to attract a stay application in the petition of the tribunal and the criminal proceedings as already pleaded by the petitioner in paragraph 17 of her Chamber Summon and 46 of the petition.”

Baraza has moved to court to challenge the legality of a tribunal set up by President Mwai Kibaki to investigate her conduct after she was suspended for allegedly pinching a security guard’s nose and threatening to kill her.

Read related story here.

The incident occurred on December 31, 2011 when Baraza was allegedly involved in a confrontation with security guard Rebecca Kerubo at the Village Market in Nairobi.

The tribunal probing her was sworn in on Wednesday but it will not be able to summon Baraza.