A Kenyan lawmaker will face prosecution on murder and assault charges over the killing of a man and injury of several other people during the Ganda Ward by-election in 2019.
The East African country’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) approved the charges against Malindi Member of Parliament, Aisha Jumwa, on Wednesday.
The lawmaker will be charged alongside her aide, Geoffrey Okuto Otieno.
The two are now set to undergo mental assessments next Wednesday before being charged in court.
The man was shot dead in a scuffle between rival Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party supporters in Ganda Ward in Malindi, Kilifi County, in October last year.
The incident occurred after Jumwa reportedly stormed a meeting of ODM agents at a house belonging to Reuben Katana, the ODM candidate and eventual winner of the by-election.
Jumwa allegedly demanded to know why such a meeting would be held at night after the campaign period had lapsed.
A scuffle ensued between her supporters and those of the candidate and the police fire teargas. One person was shot dead and several others injured.
Gumbao Jola, 48, died upon arrival at Malindi General Hospital. He was Katana’s uncle.
MP Jumwa was on October 16, 2019 arrested at her home in Kakuyuni, Malindi, over the incident before later being released.
Ms Jumwa denies being involved in the murder.
She says she was at the scene of the scuffle but insists she left, on the advice of the police, before the fatal shooting.
The murder charges come a few months after Jumwa was freed on Sh5 million bond after pleading not guilty to six counts of money laundering, acquiring proceeds of a crime, conflict of interest as well as fraud.
Jumwa, alongside six other people and a company, was accused of defrauding the Malindi CDF of Sh19 million.
The money was allegedly misappropriated during the construction of a school building.
She faced two charges of acquiring proceeds of a crime.
Jumwa was accused of receiving Sh2.5 million in her Cooperative bank on September 12, 2018, and Sh900,000 on August 17, 2018, from Multserve Contractors Limited.
The legislator is also accused of money laundering by unlawfully disposing of funds received from the NG-CDF by concealing the two transactions.
