Tuesday, February 6, 2018 KNA by Adelaide Kamau
Among 87 percent of remandees who have been granted bail by courts in Kenya, 86 percent of them were unable to afford, a preliminary report delivered by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has today revealed.
The findings of the case review process which began on 22nd January 2018, has also shown that only three percent of them have their bail revoked for various reasons.
According to the report released today in Nairobi, 31.2 percent were granted bail of between Sh250, 000 and Sh500, 000, 53 percent granted bail of between 0- Sh250, 000 and 13 percent granted bond terms of one million with the highest bond granted at Sh10 million.
Speaking during the delivery of the report, Secretary Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Dorcas Oduor said that legislative changes were necessary for the global objectives of the initiative, since pretrial remand custody was a major source of increased social distraction.
“Accused persons are kept in custody so as to secure their attendance in court and also to protect the integrity of the Criminal Justice System,” said Oduor.
She further said that it was necessary to limit the liberty of accused persons in order to bring them to account but also to put into consideration the length of time they were kept in custody.
Marisella Ouma from the office of the Attorney General said that the continuous review of qualitative and quantitative aspects of the criminal trial process was important in ensuring the perfection of the Justice System.
“It is important to appreciate the rights of the accused persons to speedy and fair trial,” She stressed.
A representative from the US Embassy Pat Cassidy said that a lot of money was spent on remandees for their upkeep in prison, adding that holding the accused accountable to their crime needed to be done in a just way.
Also present were representatives from Law Society of Kenya, the Judiciary and the Law Reform Commission.
During the data collection, it was found that two percent of the interviewed remandees were aged below 18 years, 55 percent aged between 18-30 years and 2.3 percent were elderly, ranging between 60-86 years.
It also showed that 66 percent of the remandees had dependents while 34 percent did not while 84 percent had no legal representation.
