The High Court, sitting as a Constitutional Court, has ruled that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations will no longer have powers to craft charge sheets and take people to court, a move that will have wide ramifications on the criminal justice system. As a result, the DCI's role has been reduced to collecting evidence, "the basis of which a criminal charge may be laid" while the Director of Public Prosecutions will take over all criminal cases from there. Now, the Constitutional Court says that "any (criminal) proceeding before a Court of law commenced without the prior consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions are not only illegal but unconstitutional too". In what appears to have been a desire by the Court to separate the two institutions, the Constitutional Court said: "This court is under a constitutional mandate to direct the (DCI) back to his lane by directing him to refrain from running amok onto the DPP's lane. Whether that will improve the relationship between the two institutions and the smooth flow of criminal cases will be seen in the coming months.

Source: Daily Nation July 18, 2020 07:52 UTC