MP Proposes Release Of  Suspects On Bond To Be Mandatory And Not Discretionary

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 27 – All suspects arrested for offences other than murder, treason and robbery with violence will have to be released on bond if the proposed changes to the Criminal Procedure Code become law.

The Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill 2023 seeks to make it mandatory for police officers to grant a bond to suspects arrested without a warrant, except for capital offences.

Belgut MP Nelson Koech who sponsored the Bill said the current provision makes it discretionary for officers to issue bond and which discretion is subject to abuse.

The Bill seeks to repeal section 36 of the CPC that makes it discretionary for the police to issue a bond, and will in effect delete the word ‘may’ which is discretionary and replace it with the word ‘shall’, which is mandatory.

“When a person has been taken into custody without a warrant for an offence other than murder, treason, robbery with violence and attempted robbery with violence the officer in charge of the police station to which the person has been brought shall in any case, if it does not appear practicable to bring that person before an appropriate subordinate court within twenty-four hours after the person has been so taken into custody, inquire into the case, and, release the person on his executing a bond, to appear before a subordinate court at a time and place to be named in the bond,” the Bill reads.

Investigations reveal that some station commanders have devised safer ways of extorting cash from members of the public by sanctioning arbitrary arrests and then releasing suspects on cash bail.

The cash is obtained in the form of a cash bail, making the initial process legitimate. The suspects or their families are then forced to sign and surrender the original receipt and then later released unconditionally.

Police headquarters has also directed that arrests of suspects should be made when investigations are complete unless circumstances dictate that a suspect be arrested to facilitate investigations.

The commanders had also been directed to strictly adhere to the directives on the Bail and Bond Charter, which requires, among others, that petty traffic offenders will not be put in custody or forced to pay cash bail.