Embakasi East Member of Parliament Paul Ongili alias Babu Owino is a free man after the court allowed the Director of Public Prosecution to withdraw charges against him and six others unlawful demonstrations case.
Trial Magistrate Lukas Onyina set the lawmaker and his co-accused persons free under section 87 (A) of the criminal procedure code.
Prosecutor James Gachoka told the court that the DPP intended to withdraw the charges after the High Court termed them unconstitutional.
“Following the decision by the High Court to nullify and term the charges unconstitutional under section 77(1) of the Constitution, the DPP went through the charges and came to a decision to withdraw the same”, the prosecutor stated.
The MP was charged alongside Calvina Okoth Otieno alias Gaucho, Tom Odongo Ong’udi, Michael Otieno, Pascal Ouma, Kevin Wambo and Willys Baraka.
Defense lawyers Danstan Omari, Duncan Okatch and Ndegwa Njiru told the court that the charges against their clients were political and expected them to be withdrawn.
“The DPP pressed charges against the accused persons knowing it was political and we knew it would have come to this point of them withdrawing them,” Okatch told the court.
The seven were arrested and charged in July 2023 with conspiracy to commit subversive activities.
This was after they participated in demonstrations that were allegedly illegal in the streets of Nairobi, over high cost of living.
