Determinants of Sustainable Implementation of Witness Protection Programme in Kenya: A Case of Mombasa County

Abstract

Witness protection programs are strategic interventions adopted by specific governments to ensure perpetrators of crimes are charged and convicted. That currently in the world, crimes are on the high rise due to a number of reasons like economic crisis, competition for the limited resources, terrorism, civil unrests and violent movement organization that want to drive their criminal agenda. There are rising trends of the perpetrators of these crimes going unpunished, this is because they scare away the witnesses and sometimes the judges. Prosecution of serious and organized crimes has become a challenge since crucial witnesses and victims fear for their life's and that of their families. That it is the responsibility of every state to provide security to its citizens and to ensure that the perpetrators of crimes are arrested and charged before the court of law.  Kenya has seen an upsurge in violent terrorist attacks like the Bella Vista attack, Mpeketoni attacks among others. Furthermore, we have also had high profile murders whose investigations have not been completed, this is because people fear being listed as witnesses.  The Witness Protection Programme exists with the object and purpose of providing the framework and procedures for giving special protection on behalf of the state to persons in possession of crucial information and who are facing potential risk or intimidation due to their cooperation with the prosecution and other law enforcement agencies. Witness protection programme outlines much importance of protecting witnesses as fundamental human right as supported by various instruments of both international and national law in the administration of justice. This study was carried out to examine the determinants of sustainable implementation of the witness programme in Kenya with a specific focus on Mombasa county. It was guided by four objectives that include: To establish whether staffing capacity influences sustainable implementation of the witness protection programme in Kenya; To examine whether financial investment by the National government influences sustainable implementation of the  witness protection program; To examine whether legal frameworks influences sustainable implementation of the witness protection program in Kenya; and to examine whether  public awareness and knowledge influences sustainable implementation of the witness protection programme in Kenya. The study was guided by two theories. The planned behavior theory and the Routine activity theory. This study adopted a descriptive research design and targeted 93 key informants. The researcher adopted a population census to include all the 93 key informants as the sample population for the study. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Permission was sought from the respondents, the university and the relevant bodies within the county before issuing the questionnaires. The data collected was sorted and coded into a computer. Then the data analyzed and the presentations done by use of frequency tables and in a descriptive nature. This analysis was facilitated by use of SPSS software. The Chi-square was used to test the hypothesis.