BY IRENE ONYANGO.
A Nairobi court has withdrawn criminal charges against Embakasi East Member of Parliament Paul Ongili alias Babu Owino and 6 others after a section under which they were charged was quashed by the High Court.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Lukas Onyina withdrew the charges of conspiracy to commit subversive activities after the Directorate of Public Prosecution through James Gachoka told the court of the section 77 of the penal code, under which the charges emanated had been quashed.
“Your honour, following the decision by the high court to nullify and term the charges unconstitutional under section 77(1) of the Constitution, the DPP went through the charges and came to a decision to withdraw the same,” said Gachoka.
Gachoka added that the DPP could not continue to pursue the trial since it is unlawful.
The defense, through their lawyers Danstan Omari, Duncan Okatch and Ndegwa Njiru told the court that they had seen this coming since the defense had identified the charges as politically instigated since the first day of trial.
“The DPP pressed charges against the accused persons knowing it was political and we knew it would’ve come to this point of them withdrawing the same”, said Okatch.
The defense further expressed their happiness towards the DPP having come to terms with the fact that the charges were only political and freed the accused.
Babu was charged alongside Calvina Okoth Otieno alias Gaucho, Tom Odongo Ong’udi, Michael Otieno, Pascal Ouma, Kevin Wambo and Willys Baraka.
The 7 were arrested back in 2023 while demonstrating on the streets of Nairobi against the high cost of living that was subjected to Kenyans.
On Wed, 5 Jun 2024 at 13:15, sam ndereba <samalfan2022@gmail.com> wrote:
A Nairobi Court has withdrawn criminal charges against Embakasi East Member of Parliament Paul Ongili alias Babu Owino and 6 others under section 87(A).
Milimani Chief Magistrate Lukas Onyina withdrew the charges of Conspiracy to Commit subversive activities after the Directorate of Public Prosecution led by James Gachoka told the court that the dpp had intended to withdraw the same.
“Your honour, following the decision by the highcourt to nullify and term the charges unconstitutional under section 77(1) of the Constitution, the dpp went through the charges and came to a decision to withdraw the same”, said Gachoka.
Gachoka added that the dpp couldn’t continue to pursue the trial since it is unlawful.
The defense, through their lawyers Danstan Omari, Duncan Okatch and Ndegwa Njiru told the court that they had seen this coming since the defense had identified the charges political since the first day of trial.
“The dpp pressed charges against the accused persons knowing it was political and we knew it would’ve come to this point of them withdrawing the same”, said Okatch.
The defense further expressed their happiness towards the dpp having come to terms with the fact that the charges were only political and freed the accused.
Babu was charged alongside Calvina Okoth Otieno alias Gaucho, Tom Odongo Ong’udi, Michael Otieno, Pascal Ouma, Kevin Wambo and Willys Baraka.
The 7 were arrested back in 2023 while demonstrating on the streets of Nairobi against the high cost of living that was subjected to Kenyans.
