Court gives Kethi reprieve in electoral fraud trial

The High Court yesterday suspended the trial of lawyer Kethi Kilonzo who is accused of falsely obtaining an electoral commission acknowledgement slip in the run-up to last year’s General Election.

Ms Kilonzo moved to court last week to have the case put on hold, arguing that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had not released to her lawyers documents that are crucial to her defence.

Justice Mbogoli Msagha issued an order temporarily barring the Chief Magistrate’s court from proceeding with the matter, until the one before the High Court is determined.

“This application preceded the hearing in the Chief Magistrate’s court. In the circumstances, we have no option but to obtain a stay of the lower court proceedings,” said Justice Msagha.

In the application, Ms Kilonzo claimed that the DPP’s office had failed to comply with a court order to make the documents available to her lawyers. The order was issued last September by Chief Magistrate Kiarie Waweru.

The DPP’s office had then argued that some of the documents Ms Kilonzo was seeking were in the possession of other agencies. Ms Kilonzo was charged in September last year alongside Anthony Lemisio, an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission official, for stealing an acknowledgement slip.

She is alleged to have produced the slip, which the IEBC claimed was stolen from the same voter register used to register former president Mwai Kibaki.

The charges arose after lawyers of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s party, The National Alliance, wrote to the IEBC to have Ms Kilonzo barred from running for the Makueni senator seat because she was not a registered voter.

The seat fell vacant after the death of her father, Mutula Kilonzo. It was later won by her brother, Mutula Kilonzo Junior.