- The DPP’s office is one of the hottest seats in the country given the power the officeholder wields. The name being mentioned as a possible successor to Mr Haji is that of Senior Counsel Kioko Kilukumi, an accomplished criminal lawyer. Records reveal that Mr Kilukumi narrowly missed out on being appointed the top prosecutor after being nominated by late former President Mwai Kibaki in 2011. only to be knocked out after the High Court declared the appointment unconstitutional. His experience in legal practice spans over 30 years
By The Weekly Vision
Lobbying for the vacant post in the office of the Director of Public Prosecution is in top gear following the appointment of a panel tasked with picking the next DPP by President William Ruto which. The President appointed Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli in a team of seven on Wednesday, June 21. Also appointed to the selection panel is Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) boss Twalib Abdallah Mbarak.
Investigations conducted by The Weekly Vision reveal that seasoned criminal lawyers and senior figures at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution are angling to take over from Mr Noordin Haji who has now assumed the position of Director General of the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Going by the experience under the Uhuru Kenyatta-led administration, the DPP’s office is one of the hottest seats in the country given the power the officeholder wields. The name being mentioned as a possible successor to Mr Haji is that of Senior Counsel Kioko Kilukumi, an accomplished criminal lawyer. Records reveal that Mr Kilukumi narrowly missed out on being appointed the top prosecutor after being nominated by late former President Mwai Kibaki in 2011. only to be knocked out after the High Court declared the appointment unconstitutional. His experience in legal practice spans over 30 years.
Kilukumi has a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Nairobi. He started his career at Kaplan and Straton Advocates in 1990 before moving to Swaziland as a public prosecutor and returned to the country in 1996 to establish his law firm. Sources say Kilukumi is one of President Ruto’s most trusted lawyers, having represented him in criminal cases including charges for allegedly selling Ngong forest land when he was Minister for Agriculture.
Kilukumi also represented Ruto at the Supreme Court during the presidential election petition last year. Another Ruto trusted lawyer said to be angling for the position is Mr Katwa Kigen. He is also one of the president’s lawyers. Katwa is an accomplished criminal lawyer who was among the team that represented the president during his trial at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity emanating from the 2007 post-election violence.
With 27 years of legal experience, Katwa has represented both the lowly and mighty in criminal cases with high success rates. Although many other names are being mentioned, the focus is on the two top lawyers as possible successor to Haji.
