The High Court has declined an application by the Office of Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) to review documents in a case where former Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko is charged with corruption.
In the application, the ODPP wanted the court to review a ruling that declined to admit nine Equity Bank account statements and account opening documents.
The high court ruled that allowing the application will be a miscarriage of justice and a mockery of the judicial process.
Further, Justice Nixon Sifuna directed that the anticorruption case no.31 of 2016 proceeds and be concluded in good time.
The Judge noted that Interlocutory revision applications like interlocutory appeals, are largely disruptive in effect and often serve to clog the criminal justice process as well as prolong cases.
“I am of the polite view that the judiciary needs to develop some screening process for revision application, preferably at the registry level. But even at case management sessions. This will be to weed out improper revision application such as this one,” he noted.
The court noted that by delaying the conclusion of cases, they end up with case backlog, thereby undermining the efficient case disposal and dispensation of justice.
The court further advised legal practitioners and parties in criminal cases to re-think their increasing uptake of revision of applications.
“Many of the applications for revision, are merely a manifestation of the impatient nature of humans, rather than a genuine pursuit of justice and the rule of law,” the judge said.
Similarly, the court noted that judicial time ought to be spent on trails and appeals, rather than revisions.
The lower court while declining to admit the documents ruled they lacked certificates required under section 106B of the Evidence Act adding that they had not been certified or signed by the banks officers.
