The Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga has called for inter-agency collaboration and cooperation in prosecution of terrorism.
In a lecture dubbed Effective Prosecution of Terrorism & Terrorism Financing Organized Crimes & It's Impact on National Security : ODPP Perspective, he said partners must ensure mutual trust.
“This can only be realised by collaboration and cooperation of state and non-state actors to ensure there is restoration of confidence in the justice system amongst our communities,” the DPP said at the National Defence College.
In particular, Ingonga called for exchange of expertise between the Prosecution Training Institute and the National Defense College to overcome challenges his office faces in pursuing terrorism cases.
He said players in the investigative, prosecution and judicial processes should utilise Mutual Legal Assistance through signing MoUs and agreements between countries.
He said his agency faces various challenges, which often frustrate prosecution.
Among these challenges prosecuting terrorism and terror financing, he said, include insistence of using cash-based transactions by suspects in securing safe houses and buying of cars, which limits traceability.
He said terrorists use M-Pesa accounts registered using illegally acquired ID cards. Another challenge in gathering evidence is privacy concerns in accessing M-Pesa records.
“In Kenya we have laws that prohibit the breach of private data without consent from the owner or a court order,” he said.
Monies sent by informal methods such as Hawala and transfer of funds from areas not firmly under the control of government such as from Somalia through Dahabshil makes it hard to detect, the prosecution chief said.
He gave the example of Dusit II terror attack in January 2019, where money was transferred from Kenya to Somalia through a local Kenyan bank without being reported.
The National Assembly is currently processing the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Terrorism Financing Laws (Amendment) Bill (2025). The Bill proposes changes in at least 10 acts of Parliament relating to money laundering and terrorism financing.
It also seeks to counter the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The amendments are expected to address compliance deficiencies that were identified by the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group and the review by the Financial Action Task Force that grey listed Kenya last year.
He added that due to the complex nature of terrorism cases, gathering evidence is a huge challenge for prosecutors.
“…In unfortunate cases where the terrorist act has already happened the main terrorist is most probably dead, the eye witnesses are equally probably dead or seriously and critically injured and all that remain for use in court as evidential material is circumstantial evidence," Ingonga said.
“Terrorism and organised crime cases are committed in a clandestine way, so that it is very difficult to obtain direct evidence to connect a person to a crime."
The DPP said given investigations in most terrorism cases are intelligence-led, the admissibility of the evidence in court is problematic.
Other problems he cited were witness availability, the balance between human rights and national security and Lack of appreciation by Judicial officers on the nature and scope of counter terrorism investigation.
