Nairobi High Court has declined to suspend Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Director George Kinoti’s prison sentence.

Attorney General Kariuki Kihara filed an application at the High Court seeking the suspension of Kinoti’s sentence pending the hearing and decision of his petition.

Kihara argued through lawyer Cecil Miller that the contempt charges against the DCI Director were misdirected as he has no role in the handling of civilian firearms as the Firearms Licensing Board is the custodian of firearms.

According to court documents, the DCI wrote to the AG instructing him to write to Wanjigi’s lawyers, asking them to collect the firearms in question from the custodian of firearms, therefore purging the contempt.

“The DCI has since written to the Attorney-General instructing them to write to Mr. Wanjigi’s advocates, informing them to collect their firearms from the board. By doing so, the DCI has purged the contempt,” the AG said.

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Kinoti said he had already informed Wanjigi to collect his firearms long before the court sentence.

He said instead of Wanjigi and the court asking the Firearms Licensing Board, the custodian of civilian firearms, to return the firearms, they have turned to him.

"The petitioner and the judge know it's the board that is the custodian of civilian firearms. But instead of the court asking the right authority, they turn to Kinoti," said Kinoti.

He asserted that even if he was in the custody of the firearms, he still would not return them to Wanjigi as he is a civilian, therefore prohibited from using the firearms which he says only special forces are authorised to use.

On Wednesday, the court ordered the hearing to be on Thursday instead.

A court sentenced Kinoti last week to four months' imprisonment at Kamiti Maximum Prison for contempt of court. 

This came after he failed to follow court orders that required him to return firearms confiscated from ODM presidential aspirant Jimmy Wanjigi in 2017.

The court gave Kinoti seven days to surrender himself to Kamiti Maximum Prison failure to which the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) was ordered to issue a warrant of arrest for him.

His seven-day window will close on Thursday, leaving Kenyans in speculation of what will transpire after it elapses before the DCI boss checks in at the prison facility.