The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has responded to a social media user who sought to know how embattled Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko was given a certificate of good conduct in spite of his alleged criminal past.
"Dear DCI Kenya, How do you explain this to Kenyans?" Patrick Safari tweeted alongside a photo of a certificate of good conduct bearing the name of Governor Sonko.
In a quick rejoinder, DCI explained that it removes the criminal records of individuals from its database, in the event that those individuals are acquitted by a court of law.
The records are kept for 20 years before being expunged should the criminal offence be repeated.
"Greetings Patrick Safari. It is good to note that if an applicant had cases and he/she was acquitted by a court of law, that criminal record is expunged from the criminal database. Howbeit (sic), if convicted of the same, the record is kept for 20 years before it is expunged unless…, " DCI tweeted.
"...the offence(s) charged with falls under the category of permanent offences that is:- robbery with violence, murder, treason, rape and offences related to drugs. Kindly also note that all the applicants of Police Clearance Certificate are all issues with one irrespective…, " DCI added.
There has been a raging debate on social media platforms on why and how the Nairobi county boss was issued with a certificate of good conduct, clearing his way to run in the capital city's gubernatorial race.