This archive report was first published on 23 September 2021.
Kenyan DPP Noordin Haji Commended by Estonian President ¶
On September 23, 2021, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid commended Kenyan Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji for his exemplary work in giving justice, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Kaljulaid made the commendation at the UN General Assembly, where she praised Noordin Haji's efforts in ensuring that Kenyan people can turn to the courts and receive verdicts while unable to travel or meet in person.
'My special greetings go to the chief prosecutor of Kenya. Who has made sure that Kenyan people can turn to the courts and receive verdicts while unable to travel, unable to meet. Kenya is not turning back; because even when travel will be safe again, why should someone take a trip for hundreds of kilometres to be heard? This is an encouraging example,' President Kersti said.
President Kaljulaid visited Kenya earlier this month and met with her counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta, who stressed the need for protection of multilateralism on the global stage.
'We are countries that are interested in regional and global peace, countries that are interested in seeing the multilateralism system work, countries that are interested in seeing private sector fully entrenched, creating jobs and opportunities especially for our young people,' President Kenyatta said.
During her visit, President Kaljulaid also spoke about the role of ICT in transforming education, highlighting Estonia's efforts to digitize the school curriculum and provide equal access to online education for all children.
Kenya is now working towards digitizing the school curriculum with the launch of the Opic platform, a technology developed by an Estonian ICT start-up – Star Cloud.
Meanwhile, Noordin Haji has been praised for his efforts in improving the role of the DPP, streamlining the office, and throwing out cases meant for witch-hunt while nabbing and putting to trial some of the so-called big fish.
Recently, the anti-corruption court convicted former Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario to a six-year jail term for abusing his office in connection to the Sh55 million Rio 2016 Olympics scandal.
Wario later paid the fine of Sh3.6 million, but other culprits were not lucky. Stephen arap Soi, the former National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Noc-K) official, was slapped with a Sh105 million fine or serve 12 years in jail.
