The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has secured 12 plea agreements involving remandees at Malindi GK Prison whose cases are pending before the Garsen Law Courts, following a sensitisation exercise on plea bargaining and diversion.
The exercise was led by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (ADPP) Agather Mkongo, alongside Prosecution Counsels Job Nyakundi, Collins Oluoch, Emmanuel Konde and Victor Chaka.
The team engaged remandees on plea bargaining and diversion as alternative mechanisms for resolving criminal cases, in a move aimed at expediting the administration of justice and easing congestion in correctional facilities.
According to the ODPP, 12 of the 16 remandees at the facility with cases before the Garsen Law Courts agreed to enter into plea agreements following the sensitisation exercise.
The prosecution team also made progress on five pending High Court plea agreements involving accused persons charged with murder. The five accused persons confirmed receipt of the relevant forms, with the agreements expected to be finalised in court within two weeks.
The prison administration welcomed the initiative, noting that it was helping to ease congestion at the facility.
The prison also acknowledged the prosecutors’ efforts to ensure suspects and appellants receive witness statements and records of appeal in good time, facilitating timely processing of cases.
The initiative underscores the ODPP’s efforts to promote efficient case management and access to justice through mechanisms that can help resolve eligible cases without the need for lengthy trials.
Plea bargaining involves an agreement between the prosecution and an accused person on how a criminal case will be resolved, subject to the applicable legal requirements and court approval. Diversion, meanwhile, provides eligible accused persons with an alternative to the conventional criminal justice process under prescribed conditions.
