Skip to main content

DPP Noordin Haji has asked Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to investigate Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed over a doctored video published on their Twitter handles.

The video published on Tuesday was manipulated to show that Deputy President William Ruto was profiling certain ethnic communities residing in Rift Valley and declaring shame on them.

He said the probe will also look into an audio clip that was alleged to be a recorded phone call between Junet and an IEBC commissioner.

Haji said the probe should be conducted swiftly as the impugned materials could sow seeds of discord.

The DPP launched a call centre to receive any election-related incidences.

The centre launched on Wednesday will run for 24 hours to receive and document any cases of violence targeted at civilians.

He said the data from the distress calls will form the basis of the files and evidence developed by prosecutors to arraign the perpetrators in court.

Haji said this election cycle will be different from the previous ones as victims of poll-related violence will get swift justice.

“No violence perpetrator will go scot-free,” he said.

The centre is a partnership with civil society groups that include Transparency International, Haki Africa, International Justice Mission, Amnesty International, and the ICJ-Kenya chapter.

Haji said the efforts were to complement the measures put by the police to record the cases as reported.

He said it was a multi-approach intervention to confront electoral violence that is more like an abiding element in Kenya’s electoral cycles.

The DPP said his office had dedicated 200 special prosecutors to deal with electoral violence cases in the country.

Chief Justice Martha Koome had also gazetted 118 magistrates and five special courts dedicated to hearing hate speech and electoral violence cases.

The toll-free numbers that victims can use to reach the centre are 0800723377 and +254110939802.

Transparency International executive director Sheila Masinde said the DPP should widen his focus to prosecuting cases that relate to misuse of public resources in partisan campaigns.

He should also hold to account public servants who have openly engaged in political campaigns.

Masinde said her lobby had created a portal where members of the public have lodged up to 1200 cases relating to the use of public resources in the campaigns and that once they are all consolidated, they will want the DPP to give them attention and have them addressed.

She said IEBC had disclosed to it that state officers who had resigned and were taking part in the elections had not declared the public assets that were in their possession as required by the law.

Haki Africa boss Hussein Khalid said his outfit had seen an increase in violence by organised groups such as MRC and the region needs to be put under a microscope to ensure that violence is not used to bar voters from exercising their rights.

Edited by Kiilu Damaris

Leave a Reply