Mombasa High Court will tomorrow issue its directive following an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Hajji that seeks to withdraw murder charges levelled against, Cabinet Secretary for Public Service and Gender Aisha Jumwa.
High Court judge Anne Onginjo directed Haji to file a formal application before her court to enable her to make a decision on if her court will allow the application.
Justice Ongi’njo had three weeks ago dismissed an application by the state arguing that it was too “casual”.
She informed the court that the oral application made in court by Haji through senior prosecution counsel Vivian Kambuga to have the murder charges withdrawn and Jumwa being turned into a state witness did not meet an official application.
Justice Onginjo further questioned why the DPP had made the move to have the matter withdrawn casually, in the absence of the accused person, and with no formal application before the court.
“I don’t think this is the right platform to make such an application orally with no application being tabled before the court on why you wish to drop charges against the second accused person,” Onginjo said.
The judge ordered Jumwa to appear before her court and issued directions to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to amend the charge sheet.
In Jumwa’s letter to the ODPP, she requested to be turned into a state witness and wanted the matter settled out of court to give leeway for her to compensate the family of the deceased Ngumbao Jola.
Jumwa alongside her bodyguard Geoffrey Okuto is facing charges in the murder of Jola who was shot dead in the 2020 during Ganda by-election when chaos broke down.
Over five witnesses had already testified against Jumwa and the co-accused.
The matter will be mentioned tomorrow for further directions.
