Freedom has come early for Gender and Public Service Cabinet Secretary Aisha Jumwa after the High Court dropped a murder charge against her turning him into a state witness against her former aide Geoffrey Okuto.
The CS and Okuto were charged in 2019 for the murder of ODM supporter Jola Ngumbao during campaigns for a by-election in Ganda Ward in Kilifi. Both the CS and Okuto who the court was told were lovers at that time denied the charges and were released on bail.
Justice Ann Oginjo has in her ruling made on Wednesday, December 21 cleared CS Jumwa paving way for her to become a state witness in the case. The dropping of the charge follows an application by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji to withdraw the case
“In consideration of the oral application made by the ODPP in November ,followed by a letter from Coast Region Coordinator Hassan Abdi, Ms Jumwa is hereby discharged from the proceedings,” Justice Ongijo has ruled.
Before the DPP’s application, Jumwa had through her lawyer Danstan Omari, argued that the evidence that the prosecution presented in court did not meet the threshold to hold the case as the CS did not fire the weapon used to kill Ngumbao.
“We have re-evaluated the evidence and we are of the view that the evidence doesn’t meet the threshold,” argued Omari.
Omari further argued that the CS who at the time of the incident was the MP Malindi has never owned a gun, nor was there an indication that she had a gun on the day Ngumbao Jola was shot during the Ganda by-election campaigns in 2019.
The DPP made an oral application seeking to withdraw the charges against Juma under section 87(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code(CPC) on November 30.
“This matter l have instructions by the DPP to make an application in respect to Juma to withdraw the matter under section 87(a)of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and the charges against her be marked as withdrawn as she shall be treated as prosecution witnesses against her co-accused,” the DPP told the court.
