Hearing for many cases in several courts in Eldoret town were adjourned following a shortage of police officers, most of who were deployed to man various examination centres in the just concluded Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations.
There were over 600 exam centres in Uasin Gishu county for this year’s KCPE.
It has emerged that the majority of the police officers deployed to the centres are investigating officers who were handling various cases that were before the court and their absence automatically led to the adjournment of the said cases.
This is a situation that has caused an uproar among some court users in the Uasin Gishu county's capital.
“I’ve been coming to court since May 19, 2017, and not in one occasion has my case been adjourned for lack of the investigating officer, this is an injustice to me,” said Samuel Mboya, a University of Eldoret student facing charges of illegal possession of a dangerous weapon.
It is a concern that Eldoret Chief Magistrate Charles Obulutsa acknowledged but was quick to note that lack of investigating officers especially during a national examination exercise was normal as they (police) always work with all government agencies in the provision of security where needed.
The three-day examinations exercise came to an end on Thursday and police officers involved to provide security are expected to be back to their normal duties.
#hivisasaoriginal