Delegate procedural powers to the EACC

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission could soon begin directly prosecuting the cases it investigates if the Public Prosecutor’s Office implements a proposal from the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC).

Presenting the report to the National Assembly on the investigation of incoming chief executive Abdi Mohamud, JLAC vice-chairman Mwengi Mutuse said the committee agreed that the Public Prosecution Service should appoint EACC lawyers as special prosecutors to prosecute cases. of corruption.

“We as JLAC recommend that the DPP include in the bulletin lawyers working under the EACC as prosecutors because the DPP has the power to publish prosecutors so that lawyers who interact with cases at the EACC can also have powers to prosecute the same cases in court,” Mutuse said.

The proposal could mark the end of the ongoing dispute between EACC and DPP over how corruption cases are processed in the country.

During his vetting for the EACC CEO position by JLAC, Abdi Mohamud, the incoming head of EACC, proposed that the DPP delegate prosecutorial powers to EACC, as a solution to the current challenge of the low conviction rate, the collapse of cases and delays in finalizing cases of misappropriation of public funds.

“When a file containing between 10 and 20 documents is brought to a prosecutor, he may not have interacted with that file and may not have time to examine all the documents in the file,” Mohamud told parliamentarians during the investigation of background.

“But if it is a lawyer who is dedicated to collecting evidence, analyzing it and asking the investigator to go and collect this or that for me, that person in his mind clearly understands that file like the back of his hand.”

According to Mohamud, the EACC has highly trained lawyers, including former chief magistrates, who guide investigators at every stage and carry out review of all evidence before the files are sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

As such, Mohamud stated that they are better placed and equipped, in all respects, to prosecute the cases as they have in-depth knowledge of everything in the files.

The law empowers the Public Ministry to delegate procedural powers to other people.