By Ben Agina and Cyrus Ombati
Cabinet committee on International Criminal Court-related matters met but there were no minutes of State security secrets on the table for vetting.
The ministers drawn from President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement were meeting at Harambee House, but the business of the day was minimal because the ‘evidence’ they were to scrutinise was not forthcoming.
It also emerged the three ministers invited for face-to-face interview by ICC detectives may ‘voluntarily’ give their side of events on post-election violence, to another team from The Hague who will be in the country between October 12 and 20. This is the team that is also expected to visit the flashpoints, starting with the Rift Valley.
Outside the ministers’ meeting the country awaited Chief Justice Evan Gicheru to appoint a High judge to take and certify for ICC evidence from PCs and regional police chiefs from the flashpoints. But by nightfall there was no word from the Chief Justice.
The judge once appointed will, according to the letter to Gicheru while pressing for appointment on ‘high-priority basis’, take the evidence and, "ensure that the evidence as certified by the judge is submitted to me".
The team chaired by Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, which met on the day we exclusively reported three ministers have received letters from ICC detectives, was supposed to be the second vetting station on the conveyor belt, but the first had not brought up any file.
Spy Agency Head
The committee then gave Attorney General Amos Wako and the head of national spy agency Michael Gichangi — who were appointed the first ‘gatekeepers’ of the State secrets before they are handed to ICC — up to next week Tuesday to produce them.
But there was anxiety within the committee that the new deadline may not be met because the AG is expected to fly out later this week for an overseas trip.
From the time ICC wrote to Wako last month, he had indicated the team might have to work with Prof Saitoti, as he would travel abroad. He returned on September 29, but he is reportedly leaving again soon.
Attorney General Amos Wako (left) and Michael Gichangi failed to give security minutes to Cabinet team for second vetting as State appeared to walk a tight rope.
ICC may wait longer
This means ICC may still have to wait longer before it gets the minutes of the high security meetings it specified, as it sought the footprints of those who may have given the shoo-to-kill orders, mainly to security detachments in the Rift Valley, Western, Nyanza, Nairobi, and Coast provinces.
Mr Wako and Mr Gichangi, according to the two-step ‘clearing shop’ arrangement, are supposed to vet the minutes requested by ICC as part of its investigations into the 400 police executions, then hand over what they deem non-prejudicial to Kenya’s national security interests to Saitoti team.
The committee, according to the script, will then sift them further and pass over what it considers safe to ICC. ICC has so far not interviewed PCs and PPOs. The current administrators, security chiefs, and those who have left service, from the five provinces considered hot-zones, Wako reported to the CJ on Monday, "have declined to voluntarily give the evidence required".
They, instead, contracted lawyers to safeguard their interests and insisted a judge must sit through their sessions with ICC sleuths, to guard against self-incrimination and release of information, which could earn them the ire of their superiors.
Though Wako had made it clear to Gicheru, in his meeting with him on Monday as well as formally in writing during the day, the CJ appeared to be taking his time on the request.
Wako met Gicheru after meeting Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, and a retinue of his officers said to be keen to know if the force is on the radar of Chief Prosecutor Luis-Moreno Ocampo.
In his letter, Wako told Gicheru that on March 31, the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC authorised Moreno-Ocampo to proceed. He had in turn requested the Government to authorise and facilitate the interview with PCs and PPOs. The letter was copied to team leader of ICC investigators, Dick Freimann, lawyers Ken Ogeto for PPOs, lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi for the PCs.
It was also copied to the Saitoti team, which is made up of Cabinet ministers Mutula Kilonzo (Justice), James Orengo (Lands), Moses Wetangula (Foreign), Otieno Kajwang’ (Immigration), Amason Kingi (Fisheries), the Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, and Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia.
Wako and Gichangi, who sit on the National Security Advisory Council meetings, whose minutes ICC also wants to see, are expected to sift through the minutes and select those to be given to ICC, but through the Cabinet sub-committee.
Legal advisor
The AG not only sits in the committee, but is also the Government’s legal advisor. Gichangi heads the agency that is the guardian and custodian of the country’s national security through an elaborate network of spies and spy-ware.
Saitoti is on record saying the Government would vet some of the minutes before they are handed over to the ICC investigators.
Yesterday, the lawyers representing PPOs and PCs also met separately with ICC for further briefings, but details of the meetings did not come out immediately.
The lawyers were Evans Monari, Ken Ogeto, Gershom Otachi, and Abdullahi. ICC detectives are trying to tie the loose ends on its upcoming cases against those deemed to hold higher responsibility for post-election killings before they again appear before Pre-Trial Chamber II to seek indictment letters. The team is in particular looking for more evidence to convince the judges that crimes against humanity were committed in the violence before they indict, probably by December.
The team is looking for more witnesses and evidence before they appear before the Pre-Trial Chamber II composed of judges, Justice Ekaterina Trendafilova, Justice Hans-Peter Kaul and Justice Cuno Tarfusser to seek indictment of individuals who have been linked to the charges being drafted.
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