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Migori Governor Okoth Obado murder case will kick off today after attempts to postpone it last week flopped. 

The case will be heard in a tent at the parking lot of Milimani Law Courts with only family members, lawyers and the accused being allowed to access the premises in strict adherence to Covid-19 guidelines. 

Obado was in 2018 charged alongside his personal assistant Michael Oyamo and Casper Obiero, a clerk in Migori with the murder of Rongo University Student Sharon Otieno and her unborn child. 

At the time of her death, Sharon was allegedly seven months pregnant and was in a relationship with Governor Obado who was reportedly the father to the unborn baby.

Last week, the governor sought to defer the hearing of the case, which had been scheduled to be heard from last week to this week over the Covid-19 spike in the Western region. 

Through his lawyer Kioko Kilukumi, the governor argued that the entire Western zone consisting 13 counties had been declared Covid-19 hotspot. 

“For the good of the country, the public health authority isolated this area and strongly discouraged movement into and out of that zone to prevent transmission of Delta variant into the rest of the country,” Kilukumi had told the court. 

The application was supported by Oyamo and Obiero through their lawyer Justice Cecilia Githua, however, the court declined to entirely strike out the dates set and directed the matter to be heard this week. 

Everyone’s interest “It would be in the interest of all persons to have the trial begin in the quickest time possible because none of us knows how long the pandemic will remain in our midst, we can only take mitigation measures,” ruled Justice Cecilia Githua. 

The case has never has never proceeded since 2018 when the governor, his PA and Clerk were charged. Obado is out on a cash bail of Sh5 million with two sureties of similar amount. 

He had spent almost a month at Industrial Area Remand Prison before he was released on bail in 2018. Obiero and Oyamo were released on $1 million each or an alternative bond of Sh2 million by the Court of Appeal. Sh5m Migori Governor Okoth Obado is out on Sh5 million cash bail with two sureties of similar amount.

In the beginning of July, the family of Sharon announced that it was seeking financial support in order to attend the case.

Sharon left behind three children who are now being taken care of by her parents.

Through a fundraising organiser identified as Pauline Inda and who is based in Los Angeles in the US, the family has been struggling financially and for that reason, they now seek help from more well-wishers to assist them to follow the case.

Speaking to People Daily, the fund drive organiser said that the sad events that led to the death of Sharon are what touched her to call out for well-wishers.

Inda who co-created and Co-wrote ‘Crime and Justice‘ which is the showmax’s first Kenyan original movie said that with the encounter she has had with Sharon’s family, they really needed help.

“A broken society that provides no safety. Politicians who have broken their promises. A man likely to escape justice in a country that has forgotten the murder of just another slay queen,” she said.