Ingonga says prosecutors are not to blame for case delay

Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga and Kitui Governor Julius Malombe in the latter's office on Tuesday /Musembi Nzengu.

Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga has absolved prosecutors from blame over delays in court cases, saying most adjournments are beyond their control.

He said prosecutors are diligent in the execution of their duties and rarely miss court sessions.

“A case can delay because of witnesses or because of the court, but rarely would you visit a court and find there is no prosecutor. The prosecutor is always in court,” Ingonga said

He spoke to journalists on Tuesday after paying a courtesy call on Kitui Governor Julius Malombe.

The DPP said his office does not suffer from a staff shortage.

“As far as the prosecution is concerned, we have enough staff,” he said.

Ingonga said most delays arise from the unavailability of witnesses or the defence not being ready to proceed.

“The law allows for adjournments so long as the reasons are valid. It could be due to the defence or a magistrate not sitting. A case cannot simply be transferred to another court. That means we must be given another date,” he explained.

However, Ingonga said his office was working to minimise delays caused by absent witnesses by liaising closely with investigators to ensure they are available whenever required in court.

“We are trying as much as possible to liaise, especially with investigators, so that whenever we are in court we have the witnesses present and can proceed without having to seek adjournments,” the DPP said.

Ingonga said even in cases that take up to a year to investigate, his department typically takes about a week to review and make decisions on the files.

“Ordinarily, in most cases, we take about a week to peruse a file and then return it to investigators either to approve charges, close the file, or request further investigations if the inquiries are incomplete,” he said.

Ingonga’s delegation was in Kitui at the start of an Eastern regional familiarisation tour covering Kitui, Embu, Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties.

“This tour is meant to assess how prosecutions are being conducted across the region and to strengthen relationships with key stakeholders. The office of the governor is one of those critical stakeholders,” he said.

While in the county, Ingonga and his team also paid a courtesy call on Kitui county commissioner Erastus Mbui and visited the Kitui and Mutomo law courts.