This archive report was first published on 1 November 2019.
On November 1, 2019, Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino took to his Instagram account to express his disappointment with the Kenyan judiciary, accusing it of inequality and open bias against the poor.
He questioned why celebrity private soldier Joseph 'Jowie' Irungu, who has been in remand for more than a year in connection with the murder of his alleged lover Monica Kimani in late 2018, was denied bail, unlike other high-profile suspects such as Migori governor Okoth Obado and Sarah Cohen.
Irungu's ex-fiancé and TV journalist Jacquie Marine, who was co-accused in the case, had been released on bail in October 2019, raising questions about the fairness of the Kenyan criminal justice system.
The system has often been criticized for prologue delays in the delivery of court cases, particularly those of poor citizens who are often denied bail.
