I recently posted excerpts from a guest column in the Kenyan newspaper The Nation by Philip Murgor, a former director of public prosecutions, in which he chided the investigation into a large 2004 cocaine bust and the subsequent prosecution of seven suspects; it netted only one guilty charge, that against David Mugo Kiragu.
One particular target of his scorn was the police who:
rejected the appointment of a competent and specially trained prosecutor in anti-narcotics investigations and prosecutions. Skeleton investigation files finally received reflected shoddy investigations with vital evidence missing.
The man who went on to prosecute the case, J-Oriri Onyango, was understandably not amused at the implication that he was not competent and wrote a letter [free registration required] to The Nation to this effect, squarely taking aim at Murgor, who was indeed the Director of Public Prosecutions at the time:
[A]ll the State counsel in the DPP’s department, including myself, are competent to prosecute all criminal cases without bias. Indeed there is no State counsel trained to prosecute a particular criminal case, as alleged by Mr Murgor.
The murder case involving Mr Kamlesh Pattni, which was prosecuted dismally by Mr Murgor, did not require a trained prosecutor in homicide investigations and prosecution.
Onyango stated that it is the Attorney General - and not police - who appoints the prosecutor and that Murgor should have taken it up with that official. He also noted that Murgor had in fact received the police file from the Director of Criminal Investigations for perusal and advice” and then wondered:
[w]hat action did he take to rectify the alleged failures in the investigations? Did he advise the police to cover the points he now raises in his article to strengthen the prosecution case before the start of the trial?
It appears to me that Mr Murgor had valuable evidence regarding drug barons he claims to be behind the importation of the largest drug haul on the African continent to Kenya. One wonders why he did not volunteer the information to the police for investigation with a view to dismantling the drug cartel.
Did Mr Murgor conceal this crucial evidence to enable the drug barons to escape arrest and subsequent prosecution? It is indeed ironical for Mr Murgor to call upon the Attorney-General to reopen the investigations into the Sh6.4 billion cocaine case after the acquittal of some accused persons when he, as Director of Public Prosecutions, had an opportunity to direct the police to carry out thorough investigations but instead kept quiet.
Ouch.
