By STANDARD REPORTER
Nairobi, Kenya: The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has appointed four chief officers as part of ongoing restructuring.
Following the appointments, a career civil servant and advocate of the High Court of Kenya Elijah Nduati will serve as the Secretary of Public Prosecutions and the organisational Chief Executive Officer. He has previously served as deputy secretary and director of administration in various ministries.
Dorcas Oduor, Kioko Kamula and Jacob Ondari have also been appointed Deputy Directors of Public Prosecution to handle the department of Economic, International and Emerging Crimes, Department of Offences Against the Person and the Department of County Affairs and Regulatory Prosecutions respectively.
The appointments, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko said, were consistent with the provisions of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 2013, which provides for the retention of deputy directors to assist the DPP in the execution of his or her powers and functions under the Constitution.
“The Independent constitutional Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which was established just about two years ago, has been undertaking extensive institutional engineering processes, which involve the retention of key staffers to handle its mandate,” Tobiko said.
Exceptional passion
He added: “Alongside an expanding team of officers at the county level, the executive office holders have all been retained for their exceptional passion and commitment to deliver upon the ODPP vision to become a bastion of efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of prosecution services within the region.”
Tobiko further said that 41 Chief County Prosecutors had been posted to man 41 county offices in various regions including Wajir, Turkana, Narok, Marsabit, Bomet, Malindi, Voi, Busia, and Homa Bay, among others.
The ODPP is also sustaining an engagement process with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission geared at enhancing its staff’s terms and conditions of service to boost staff retention and growth.
From 93 prosecution counsel two years ago, the ongoing drive to boost the ODPP’s prosecutorial capacity has registered a steady growth with a total of 248 prosecution counsel now retained.
Within the current terms of service, the ODPP has also secured authority to recruit a further 130 prosecutors annually for the next few years as it seeks to maintain an optimal staffing level of 930 prosecutors.