Magistrate Faults Prosecution During Acquittal Of Henry Rotich In Arror, Kimwarer KSh 63B Case

• Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich was acquitted after the court found no evidence against him in the KSh 63 billion Arror, Kimwarer Dams scandal
• The trial magistrate called out the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for doing a questionable job in prosecuting the matter
• Magistrate Eunice Nyutu stated that the ODPP's conduct and behaviour needed to be investigated

Michael Ollinga is a journalist at TUKO.co.ke with over 10 years of experience covering courts and crimes, special reports, and current affairs in Kenya.

Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has breathed a sigh of relief after the court acquitted him in the KSh 63 billion Arror, Kimwarer dam scandal.

Henry Rotich acquitted

Rotich, who served under the tenure of former president Uhuru Kenyatta, was facing several counts touching on abuse of office and flouting of public procurement laws about the tendering of the two multibillion-shilling dams in Elgeyo Marakwet county.

To his relief, trial magistrate Eunice Nyutu acquitted him and his eight co-accused because of a lack of evidence.

Nyutu boldly slammed the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) for being reckless in their prosecution of the matter.

Why Henry Rotich was acquitted

"All accused persons in this matter are acquitted under section 210 because of lack of evidence. This is as a result of the reckless dereliction of duty by the prosecution team," stated the magistrate.

In her verdict, Nyutu said the prosecution failed to prove that the accused persons had a case to answer, and therefore the court could not put the suspects on their own defense.

Nyutu raised concerns about why the prosecution presented only eight out of the 41 witnesses it had intended to examine during the hearing of the matter.

Prosecution on the spot over Henry Rotich's Acquittal

The magistrate described the move by the prosecution as a "well-choreographed acquittal."

This was after the prosecution failed to state why 33 of the witnesses set to testify were not examined by the prosecutors handling the matter.

The court further observed a need to probe thdue toe ODPP's conduct and behaviour in terms of its commitment to take to the final stage cases it commenced to prosecute in court.

Rotich was pleased by the verdict, which cleared his name from lies levelled against him.

According to the former CS, the verdict permanently silenced and ashamed the devil, who wanted to taint his name and reputation as a diligent and honest public servant.