PLEAD Spotlight - Prosecutor Kenya

UNODC is launching the PLEAD Spotlight video series to demystify the criminal justice system. This first episode profiles Eric Kyalo, a public prosecutor with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) in Lamu County. In explaining the role of a prosecutor, Mr Kyalo expresses his support for alternatives to imprisonment, such as diversion and plea bargaining. “It’s the best way to reduce the number of cases in court and seek justice for offenders who can be reformed,” Mr Kyalo said. “Not every criminal is a bad person.” UNODC provides technical and logistical support to the ODPP in conjunction with the European Union through the Programme for Legal Empowerment and Aid Delivery in Kenya (PLEAD). PLEAD is a partnership between the Government of Kenya, European Union and United Nations aimed at improving the efficiency of Kenya’s criminal justice system and increasing the use of alternatives to imprisonment. Launched in March 2018, the five-year, EUR 34.15 million (KES 4.3 billion) programme is the European Union’s largest in the justice sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Among the objectives, PLEAD partners want to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in the backlog of criminal cases in Kenya by December 2022.