The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions launched an election call center on Wednesday, ahead of the August 9, 2022, general elections.
According to DPP Noordin Hajj, the center will help bridge the gap between what happens at the police station and what happens on the ground during the election campaign.
“The goal is to have us as the ODPP because we are the ones who are mandated to direct investigations even where the police have not begun,” he explained.
“Time has no end date.” This will allow us to plan and provide justice to everyone who has filed a complaint but has been unable to do so,” Haji added.
The DPP highlighted that in the centre, they will be feeding three categories of reports which will help the ODPP to get charge sheets ready as well as looked into reported cases that have not been attended to.
“We will have three categories; information from the media, public and police and this will help to correlate with what kinds of crimes we are getting in terms of charge sheets.”
This will help to bridge the gap that has been there where an individual says a crime has occurred but nothing has been done.
Haji has called upon Kenyans and Civil societies to share election complaints with the office of DPP, saying the office is ready to deal with all of them post-election.
He urged the participants to be impartial and meticulous in carrying out their responsibilities in order to foster trust in the electoral process and the criminal justice system.
Haji launched a 24-hour ODPP elections toll-free line last month, which will help to streamline citizens’ access to election-related information.
This will help to improve their ability to receive and respond to general election questions and complaints.
The digital platform will aid in the real-time mapping of potential hotspots and the prompt deployment of appropriate response mechanisms.
Haji stated that his office has developed and implemented key policies and strategies to ensure that election-related offenses are dealt with as soon as possible.
