NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 13- The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has employed 44 prosecutors and 5 researchers, to boost “office capacity in provision of efficient and effective prosecution service.”
The new team kicked off their 3-month induction training on Friday, before they can start executing their mandate.
Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji said the training is organized by the Prosecution Training Institute.
“Meanwhile, they have been placed under ODPP regional coordinators for mentorship,” the DPP said in a post on Twitter.
He asked the new staff members to, “discharge their duties with honesty and integrity guided by the Constitution and various prosecutorial tools, chief among them, decision to charge.”
Capacity issues have been a major problem for the ODPP as it is in many other agencies within the criminal justice system.
As a result, this has resulted to a backlog of cases which means delayed justice.
The new team joins the ODPP at a time it is seeking to enhance its performance, amidst high expectations among Kenyans, more so on the fight against corruption.
“In order to fight corruption, we have adopted the following strategies: strategic focus on high profile and high impact cases; establishment of specialized thematic divisions, units and teams; recovery of proceeds of crime; follow the money approach; use of experts in various fields such as financial analysts and development of an anti-corruption strategy ,” the DPP said in a statement captured in a report covering 2017 to June 2020.
The report was on Thursday tabled to Parliament by President Uhuru Kenyatta, during his 7th State of the Nation Address.
“Even as the ODPP valiantly plays its role, it is still important to state that slaying the dragon of corruption will require all Kenyans to resolutely denounce corruption and all its manifestations. On this path, we shall not dither nor waver,” DPP Haji said.
During the period under review, the ODPP’s organizational structure revised “to make it more responsive to the emerging criminal trends and the expanding needs of the Office.”
This led to the establishment of nine Regional offices for ease of coordination of the 47 county offices and 123 court stations.
Also established is an internal compliance department to ensure highest standards of integrity and accountability by the ODPP staff and the Victim and Witness Facilitation Unit to ensure that witnesses are informed and prepared for criminal trials.
Also, within the ODPP is the Proceeds of Crime Recovery Unit whose role is to trace, confiscate, and recover proceeds of crime.
“With regard to infrastructure, we have leased a stand-alone office building in Upper Hill, Nairobi to enhance coordination of office activities and create a conducive work environment,” the DPP said. “
We have also improved the terms and conditions of service of our staff to attract and retain highly skilled professionals.”
The ODPP has established and operationalized the Prosecution Training Institute (PTI) at Loresho, Nairobi.
This Institute provides continuous professional development to ODPP staff and officers from other criminal justice agencies and stakeholders both in Kenya and the region.
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