DPP opposes Wakhungu, Waluke plea for release on bail

Sirisia MP John Waluke (right) and Grace Wakhungu when they appeared before Anti-Corruption Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Juma on Thursday, June 25, 2020. [David Njaaga, Standard]

Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji has urged the court not to release Sirisia MP John Waluke and Grace Wakhungu on bail.

He said the two have not proven they are too ill to be taken care of in prison. Mr Haji, in his reply filed before High Court judge John Onyiego, argued that there are convicts with more serious illnesses who are treated in prison health facilities and public referral hospitals.

Correspondences between the DPP and Commissioner General of Prisons Wycliffe Ogallo revealed that Waluke has hypertension, arthritis and diabetes while  Wakhungu has arthritis and hypertension. “These conditions are usually managed as outpatient unless any complications arise. However, as it is now, their health condition can adequately be managed in our medical facilities,” Ogallo replied to Haji’s letter dated July 27.

Waluke had told the court that he risks losing his seat if he stays in prison but Haji, through senior assistant DPP Alexander Muteti, argued that the MP cannot monopolise the seat.

“A parliamentary seat is a State office and not the applicant’s personal entitlement, as such no irreparable damage will be occasioned upon the applicant by the loss of the said seat,” Haji argued. During the virtual court session yesterday, Wakhungu followed the case from Langa’ta Women Prison while Waluke was in Industrial Area Prison.

Through lawyer Paul Muite, Wakhugu urged the court to allow a doctor to examine her.