Updated 18 hr(s) 57 min(s) ago
at the Hague
Cabinet’s sub-committee on the International Criminal Court reconvenes on Monday to review confirmations hearings underway at the Hague, and almost certainly anticipate what may come out in similar hearings from September 21.
(From left) Prime Minister Raila Odinga, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and President Kibaki on the steps of Harambee House in May 2009. [PHOTO: JOHN lectus/STANDARD]
Inside sources reveal the team picked by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and which represents both sides of the Grand Coalition Cabinet, will also review a memorandum prepared by Government’s own defence team on the admissibility case it filed against ICC and lost again last week.
“The committee is meeting to discuss the memorandum sent by the two (Government-hired) British lawyers over the failed admissibility case and other emerging issues,” one member of the sub-committee revealed.
The team meets shortly after Eldoret North MP William Ruto’s lawyer Mr Kioko Kilukumi, whose case is among the ongoing, questioned why Raila was left out of the list of suspects yet he was the leader of Orange Democratic Movement, which lay claim to victory in the disputed elections of 2007.
He made the argument in a bid to discredit the prosecutor’s investigations and conclusions.
The lawyer for Kass FM’s head of operations Mr Joshua arap Sang also questioned why Raila was not on the list of suspects.
But even curiously, Monday’s meeting takes place just a little over two weeks before the next round of confirmation hearings for top Government functionaries — Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura and Postmaster General Hussein Ali who was the Police Commissioner in the period in question — starts.
It is at this hearing that Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will be arguing that the three plotted or connived to carry out revenge attacks in the Rift Valley by using members of the proscribed Mungiki sect.
He will be arguing Uhuru commanded the sect while Muthaura ordered Ali to give a safe passage to its killer squads to go and stage reprisal attacks in Naivasha and Nakuru.
Most sensationally, he will be presenting the evidence that supports his claim that one of the planning meetings by the personalities who were in Government during the mayhem took place at State House Nairobi, an assertion President Kibaki has vehemently dismissed through his Press crew.
Members of the committee chaired by Internal Security Minister Prof George Saitoti, who had been doubling up as acting Foreign minister before reinstatement of Moses Wetangula, meet at Harambee House on Monday.
One of its immediate tasks will be analysing a report made for the Government by its two British lawyers, Sir Geoffrey Nice and Mr Rodney Dixon last Friday.
The lawyers battled with the ICC prosecution team to challenge the admissibility of the Kenyan case at the Hague, but lost at the appeal level.
In Monday’s meeting, the adverse mention of President Kibaki and the PM in the trials, and the serious possibility their names may continue to feature because they were leading the two sides to the dispute of the presidential results, is also expected to feature.
Raila is allegedly repeatedly mentioned in the evidence collected by Moreno-Ocampo for the case against Ruto, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey and Sang.
Kilukumi told the court that Moreno-Ocampo alleges Raila provided finances to fund a terror network that operated under the command of the Eldoret North MP.
“He did not consider that important but if he did not believe that portion, why did he believe the other portions of his evidence?” asked Kilukumi as he tried to rebut the ICC prosecutor’s evidence.
The lawyer pleaded with the judges to apply their judicial mind to evaluate and analyse every piece of evidence before them.
In the sub-committee of Cabinet, the President’s Party of National Unity is represented by Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo, Wetangula and Saitoti, while Raila’s ODM has Cabinet ministers James Orengo (Lands), Otieno Kajwang’ (Immigration) and Amason Kingi (Fisheries).
As the chief Government legal advisor, Attorney General Githu Muigai sits in the committee but solely in a neutral capacity.
In the Hague on Monday, the court will cross-examine witnesses presented by Kosgey.
Ruto’s lawyers were on Sunday in a meeting preparing the closing speech and written submissions to be delivered at the court.
The defence is to set give the closing speech after finishing with his two witnesses.
The hearing against the three is expected to end earlier than planned because the hearing moved fast and is now ahead of schedule.
But still the court has 60 days to deliver its judgment.
The Pre-Trial Chamber II presided over by Justice Ekaterina Trendafilova may confirm all the charges against the accused as charged by the prosecutor or decline some or all of them.
On Monday, Kosgey’s team of lawyers led by Mr George Oraro is to start presenting its defence on charges of crimes against humanity and mode of liability at 3.30PM Kenyan time.
If the submissions to which the prosecution is expected to respond ends early, Kosgey’s first witness will take the stand to give evidence.
His defence team had the whole of Sunday to prepare to legally battle it out with the prosecution in a bid to save him from going to full trial.
When Kosgey walked out of the Pre-Trial Chamber II after Ruto’s witnesses testified on Saturday night, he said he was confident the process would find him innocent of the claims made by Moreno-Ocampo’s team.
On Sunday, Mutula accused the Government, of which he is a member, of being insensitive in the entire ICC process.
“Kenya’s case at the ICC is now over. we were slow and careless in the implementation of the (Justice Phillip) Waki report,” said Mutula on the phone from Cairo, Egypt.
The minister will not be present at Monday’s meeting as he is away on official duties.
ODM Secretary General Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o on Sunday evening said dragging Raila’s name into the trial in the Hague was inconsequential, since the PM was not under ICC investigation.
Nyong’o noted that from the start, Moreno-Ocampo did his investigations and decided that those before the court bore the highest responsibility for the 2007-8 post-election violence.
“Even if the PM’s name is mentioned by the defence ten times, it is of no consequence since he is not being investigated. But this does not mean those before the ICC are guilty,” said Nyong’o.
He asked Kenyans to remain calm and wait for the verdict of the court and not rely on speculation. He was speaking after attending a church service at Ridgeways Baptist Church which was being opened, and where Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua was the guest of honour.
Although she refused to talk about the witnesses at the Hague, Karua expressed confidence that the ICC probe was impartial and Kenyans should wait for the verdict of the judges.
Tourism Minister Najib Balala put up a case for national reconciliation and healing as the doorway to permanent peace.
He claimed the trials at the Hague would not help the country foster peace, but have the potential to cause more hatred and division.
— Additional reporting by Patrick Beja