Migori Governor Okoth Obado woes won’t be ending anytime soon and the governor is also not off the hook if the latest developments from the DPP’s office are anything to go by.
According to the DPP, Nordin Haji, Okoth Obado required more strict bail conditions compared to what he was given by the courts in relation to the gruesome murder of the late Sharon Otieno.
Obado was last month released on a 5 million shillings bond by High Court judge Justice Jessie Lessit. He was given strict bail terms that could see him loose his freedom should he breach them. They are:
- He cannot go over 20 km out of Migori County.
- He cannot cause an adjournment during the trial.
- He is to report to the deputy registrar once in a month.
- He cannot intimidate parents, siblings and any relations of Ms Sharon Otieno.
- He should refrain from discussing the deceased in any political gatherings.
- He should deposit all his travel documents in court, that is his Kenyan, East Africa and diplomatic passports.
- He should refrain from interfering or intimidating witnesses.
The above bail conditions seem to have done little to convince DPP Noordin Haji that Obado will not abscond justice.
Haji has expressed his displeasure over the manner in which the courts have been handling cases against high-profile individuals.
Citing an example of the case against Migori Governor Okoth Obado, the DPP said the county boss was granted “wanting” bail terms by the court.
Mr. Haji wondered why the courts are allowing State officers to go back to their offices despite being indicted for serious offences, adding that as a country “we must have standards.”
Governor Okoth Obado has since resumed office and is performing his roles as the Migori County Chief.
“I am actually concerned on this, we have taken cases to court, we have charged individuals be it governors or constitutional office holders or the Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ) herself. My concern is this. Most of them still remain in office. And the sad thing is that we still have orders to allow them to enjoy whatever it is and these orders are coming from the courts,” said the DPP.
“Some of the bail terms for example in a particular murder case to do with the governor are wanting. You saw him making presentations before development partners and this is somebody facing a murder charge, investigations on corruption… this is somebody who was found with unexplained guns in his premises.”
“We must have standards and those standards need to be applied across board and the courts need to help us.” added the DPP
The State prosecutor said while the presumption of “innocent until proven guilty” is in the law, the same law allows for public officers to step down when charged with offences until they are cleared of any wrongdoing.
“There is the issue of innocent until proven guilty, but our laws are clear that they (public officers) need to step aside until the issue is adjudicated upon.
“This is about the law. We have tried to make the courts see sense in interpreting this. But you have people going back to office and using their offices to subvert investigations and legal provisions that have allowed us to charge them,” he said.
Obado’s murder case will be coming for pre-trial conference on February 14, 2019 and its hearing will be held between May 6-17, 2019.