Chief public prosecutor Keriako Tobiko. Photo/FILE
By KIPCHUMBA SOME ksome@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, March 17 2012 at 22:30
Posted Saturday, March 17 2012 at 22:30
More than Sh170 million has been set aside to hire more state counsels to address an acute shortage of legal staff at the new office of the Independent Directorate of Public Prosecution.
Positions for 66 prosecutors will be advertised soon, but the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko says the additions will still be a “drop in the ocean”. “It is a positive step although it falls way below our requirements,” he said.
Mr Tobiko was granted authority by the Public Service Commission to hire 320 prosecutors at a cost of a billion shillings in January. However, the Treasury jettisoned the plans, saying it had no money for the exercise.
There are currently 93 prosecution counsels and 290 police prosecutors in the country handling more than 60,000 cases as of last year’s count. These prosecutors serve 350 magistrates, 80 High Court judges and 11 Court of Appeal judges.
“Our existing capacity is so grossly inadequate as to be incapable of delivering effective and efficient services to the public,” said Mr Tobiko. “I am afraid Kenyans will not enjoy the fruits of the new Constitution unless this situation is addressed quickly.”
The situation has been worsened by the fact that some legal officers at the DPP have been seconded to the Witness Protection Agency and the National Crime Research Centre which, he says, has stretched thin the legal counsel available to his office.
The shortage is expected to be felt even more acutely as the DPP embarks on the process of phasing out the police prosecutors who have been accused of incompetence and bungling crucial State cases.
Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere has already said that there will be no more recruitment of police prosecutors who currently handle 95 per cent of the criminal prosecutions before the magistrates’ courts.
Mr Tobiko said the shortage of legal staff will greatly hinder government efforts to prosecute pending post-election violence cases.
The government recently announced plans to open investigations and prosecution into some 5,000 cases recorded in early 2008.
“We simply have no capacity to prosecute these cases without additional legal officers,” he said.
Observers contend that the announcement is part of the government attempt to convince the International Criminal Court and the international community in general that the country has undertaken enough judicial reforms to try the post-election cases.
The government has made several attempts to save four Kenyans facing charges against crimes against humanity at the ICC. The four are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, former head of Public Service Francis Muthaura and journalist Joshua Sang.
Whatever the case, Mr Tobiko says the government’s intention to prosecute the cases might come a cropper if shortages at the DPP are not urgently addressed. “We simply have no capacity to prosecute these cases without additional legal officers,” he said.
The Judiciary has already embarked on massive expansion with 160 magistrates set to be hired soon. In addition, the number of High Court and Court of Appeal judges will also be increased to 120 and 30 respectively.
However Mr Tobiko said the expansion in the Judiciary will be only meaningful if there is a corresponding employment of state counsels.
“If things remain the way they are, then this will likely lead to prosecutors being deployed to serve more than one court at the same time which not only result in delays in delivery of justice but has also compromise the quality of prosecution services,” he said.
Furthermore, he says the shortage will hamper the dispensation of justice in the new devolved county governments. “We are on the process of opening new offices, but this will mean nothing if we won’t have staff to occupy them.”
Mr Tobiko is currently on countrywide fact finding and sensitisation tour in which he has met stakeholders including the police, lawyers, provincial administration and non-governmental organisations as well as members of his staff.
He says although staff exhibited morale, they complained of being overworked and poor pay. He said that he has submitted reviewed salary proposals to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
“We need to be competitive in order to attract the best minds. But the pay for the state counsels is hopelessly poor compared to those of the Judiciary,” he said.
The lack of enough prosecutors has lead to an inordinate delay in dispensing justice. The Sunday Nation has learnt that the issue of staff shortage at the DPP was recently discussed by the National Security Advisory Committee.
“Security agencies are worried that members of the public are increasingly taking the law in to their own hands after failing to get justice in courts. That explains the increase in lynching cases in certain parts of the country and this does not bode well for our national security,” he said.
According to a policy and organisational proposal approved by the PSC, Mr Tobiko says that for his office to function effectively it requires 930 prosecutors and 320 support staff. Currently, the office of the DPP has only 93 prosecutors and 120 support staff.
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