Former Malindi Member of Parliament and Public Service and Gender Cabinet Secretary nominee Aisha Jumwa can breathe a sigh of relief after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) withdrew her Sh19 million graft charges.
DPP Noordin Haji dropped the charges under Section 87(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) after the defense lawyers asked for a review of the file.
Jumwa, who was the first responder in the case, was facing backlash from the public after her nomination as cabinet secretary by president William Ruto over issues of integrity expected to feature prominently during vetting by Parliament.
The former legislator and seven others were accused of conspiracy to commit fraud through payment of Sh19 million to Multiserve contractors in respect to tender number MLD/NG-CDF/01/2017/2018 of Malindi NG-CDF.
The offence is alleged to have been committed between May 14 and October 12, 2018 in Malindi sub-county, Kilifi county.
The prosecution had lined up ten witness to testify in the case however only one managed to testify before Mombasa Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku who had issued a warrant of arrest for jumwa and her co–accused after failing to log into the virtual hearing of the matter virtually.
Despite this, jumwa is still not yet off the hook as she faces murder charges alongside her bodyguard in another case where they are accused of killing Gumbao Jola in Ganda in 2019.
Her counterparts at the Kenya kwanza alliance are however clamming that cases hounding jumwa were politically instigated by the previous regime.