By Staff Reporter
A leading anti-corruption lobby group has called for the arrest of Cooperatives and MSMEs Development Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya following a High Court decision that overturned an earlier directive to drop corruption charges against him.
In a ruling delivered on 16th September, Justice B.M. Musyoki declared that Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally when he rescinded an earlier decision to prosecute the former Kakamega Governor.
The judge found that the DPP’s directive to drop charges of corruption, conflict of interest, abuse of office, and money laundering was “irregular, opaque, and contrary to public interest.” According to the National Integrity Alliance (NIA), a coalition of civil society organisations, the judgment is a landmark moment in the fight against impunity. “The DPP acted unconstitutionally by disregarding the input of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the
mandated investigative agency, and instead relied solely on submissions from Oparanya’s legal team. This ruling affirms that the DPP cannot operate as a law unto itself,” the alliance stated. The lobby noted that the Constitution, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act, and the 2019 Guidelines on the Decision to Charge do not grant the DPP unchecked discretion to terminate cases without due consultation. It added that as of September 2025, the EACC had flagged 18 high-profile graft cases dropped unilaterally by the ODPP despite credible investigation files.
“This disturbing pattern has also been echoed by the Senate’s County Public Accounts Committee, which has repeatedly flagged the collapse of strong cases at the prosecution stage,” the NIA said. The alliance insisted that the ruling validated long-standing concerns over selective prosecutions and political protection of powerful figures. It called on the DPP to immediately reinstate charges against Oparanya based on the EACC’s findings and the court’s decision.
“We strongly support the EACC’s position that such withdrawals undermine public confidence in anti-corruption efforts. The judgment is a victory for accountability, transparency, and the rule of law. It exposes and condemns the backroom deals that have long shielded powerful individuals from justice,” the NIA declared.
Beyond demanding Oparanya’s arrest, the group urged the ODPP to stop usurping investigative functions and to respect the EACC’s constitutional mandate under Article 79 and Chapter Six of the Constitution. It further called for the immediate restoration of institutional cooperation between the two offices to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system and safeguard public trust.
“The time for impunity is over. The people of Kenya deserve a justice system that protects the public interest, not the powerful,” the lobby concluded. The National Integrity Alliance brings together Transparency International Kenya (TI-Kenya), Inuka Kenya Ni Sisi!, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), and the Institute of Social Accountability (TISA).
