: Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga has dismissed a petition filed with the Public Service Commission (PSC) seeking his removal from office.

Through his lawyers Danstan Omari and Shadrack Wambui, Ingonga described the petition as unfounded and without merit.

The petition filed by businessman Hussein Aila Amaro accuses Ingonga of misconduct for allegedly withdrawing a criminal case involving death threats against him.

However, the DPP’s legal team argued that the petitioner has been misinformed and that the allegations of misconduct are baseless.

They further clarified that the case is still active and has not been withdrawn.

The petition, which is currently before the PSC, seeks the DPP's removal on charges of gross misconduct. However, the DPP's legal team asserts that the decision to drop charges against Farida Idrisa was within his legal authority and does not reflect incompetence.

They further pointed out that similar cases were dismissed last year, emphasising that such decisions are within the DPP’s discretion. They contended that labeling this as misconduct is misleading and unfortunate.

"The matter is still ongoing. The court rejected the withdrawal application, and the case will proceed on May 27," stated lawyer Omari.

The two suggested that the case was a matter of love gone sour.

"The Director of Public Prosecution exercises power to withdraw. This is a case involving a love affair, a family affair. Therefore, to preserve public morality, the DPP decided to withdraw this matter,” Omari stated.

In addition, Ingonga’s lawyers said the case had reached the Court of Appeal in a civil matter, where the application for withdrawal was ultimately denied.

"An application by the Director of Public Prosecution to withdraw was dismissed yesterday and the trial court ordered that the matter to proceed expeditiously, without delay,” Omari noted.

President William Ruto nominated Ingonga to be the new DPP a few days after he won the August 2022 Presidential Election.

He was eventually vetted and approved by the National Assembly before he was formally appointed to take over from Noordin Haji who is now the Director General of the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

took a look at Ingonga's career which has an extensive experience in criminal law.

At the time of his nomination for the position of the DPP, he was the senior assistant director of public prosecutions. He was picked from a list of over 10 candidates that had been shortlisted for the seat by a selection panel among them former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioner Thomas Letangule, lawyer Danstan Omari, Taib Ali and Francis Andayi.

Source: TUKO.co.ke