DPP clarifies why he rejected Covid-19 charge sheets
Administrators arrest people who were flouting the Covid-19 regulations by not wearing face masks at Karatina town in Nyeri on November 9, 2020.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) has clarified on why it refused to charge 24 people arrested for flouting Covid-19 containment rules in Isiolo County.
This is after police on Monday said they failed to arraign the suspects for not wearing masks because the DPP, Isiolo County declined to register the charge sheets citing ‘lacuna in law’.
But in a statement posted on Twitter, the DPP insisted that police had only been asked to indicate the location of arrest in the charge sheet for each offender.
“ODPP was concerned that the location of arrest was (the) same for all offenders... The ODPP Isiolo County Head and County Police Commander have since resolved the issue and police directed to conform accordingly,” the statement read in part.
The Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai has warned that anyone found in breach of the public health measures will face an instant fine of Sh20,000 while those arrested while driving beyond the 10pm curfew will have their license cancelled.
On Monday, Isiolo County Commissioner Herman Shambi had lamented that due to the misunderstanding, police officers were being forced to release the suspects as they could not continue holding them further, thereby curtailing their efforts to ensure full compliance.
Previous hotspot areas
The ODPP, Mr Shambi had said, had insisted that the gazetted law only applied in previous hotspot areas of Nairobi, Mombasa, Mandera, Kwale and Kilifi counties and therefore the Isiolo suspects could not be charged.
“This could make people unruly for knowing that no legal action would be taken against them which would affect our efforts to ensure total compliance to the health guidelines,” Mr Shambi told Nation on Monday.
