Ruto quizzed by ICC officials over poll chaos

Mr Ruto, now a suspended Higher Education minister, said the 2007 election was polarised and the people in the Rift Valley believed that (President) Kibaki oppressed them in the five years of his presidential term. Photo/FILE 

 

By NATION TEAM newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Friday, November 5 2010 at 22:30

Eldoret North MP William Ruto on Friday defended himself against accusations that he was among masterminds of the 2007 post-election violence when he met International Criminal Court officials at The Hague in the Netherlands for a second day.

Mr Ruto and his two lawyers, Dr Kithure Kindiki and Mr Katwa Kigen, met ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his prosecution team for more than four hours after agreeing on rules by which he was to give evidence during another meeting on Thursday.

On Friday, the ICC prosecution team gave Mr Ruto an opportunity to respond to accusations levelled against him by some of the witnesses and victims who have recorded statements with the ICC in connection with the post-election violence.

The suspended Higher Education minister had a busy schedule at the Hague where he sat through two lengthy meetings with the ICC prosecutors; one in the morning and the other in the afternoon as he responded to their queries.

Dr Kindiki said Mr Ruto travelled to the Hague on Wednesday night voluntarily to clarify his position in connection with post-election violence as he believes he has been maliciously “vilified and demonised.”

“This move was within his right under the Rome Statute,” Dr Kindiki said. When he appeared before the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence headed by Justice Philip Waki, the Eldoret North MP blamed all the post election violence on tribal politics.

Mr Ruto told the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence headed by Justice Philip Waki that the mayhem was not related to land. “The issue of the violence is not land, let nobody cheat you. Kikuyus always sit on the land and the only problem is at the end of five years,” he said.

Mr Ruto, now a suspended Higher Education minister, said the 2007 election was polarised and the people in the Rift Valley believed that (President) Kibaki oppressed them in the five years of his presidential term. “They voted more against Kibaki’s presidency than for (Odinga) Raila’s presidency,” he said.

And as Mr Ruto made frantic efforts to clear his name at the Hague, in his Rift Valley backyard his allies said the main reason for his going to the Hague was to clear his name before the 2012 General Election.

Confidantes said the Eldoret North MP had decided to contest for the presidency come 2012 and that was why he wanted to clear his name in connection with the violence and the fraud case against him.

Former nominated councillor Kibet Farouk said some of the evidence adduced before the Justice Philip Waki commission was “not credible” and could have been “malicious”.

“We believe some people were out to curtail Mr Ruto’s political ambitions and after brainstorming, we decided that he should present himself before ICC to clear his name because 2012 is near,” Mr Farouk said.

And Mr Ruto’s party, ODM, and Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo, distanced themselves from the suspended Higher Education’s visit to the Hague.

No interest in Ruto visit

Mr Kilonzo in an interview with the BBC said the government had no official interest in Mr Ruto’s visit to ICC. “For us to find out why Hon Ruto is buying tickets at his own expense and travelling in the winter – in very low temperatures, leaving a beautiful climate in Nairobi – we don’t have an interest,” he told BBC Radio’s Network Africa program on Friday morning.

Mr Kilonzo said the Kenyan authorities had no interest  in Mr Ruto’s trip because Mr Ocampo is acting as a Kenyan prosecutor, and all evidence he collects is “Kenyan evidence.” The justice minister said the ball is now fully in the ICC prosecutor’s court.

And ODM party leader, Mr Raila Odinga, termed Mr Ruto’s visit to ICC “as personal” adding: “It’s not a party decision or mandate.” Mr Odinga also trashed calls by a section of MP’s allied to Mr Ruto that ODM releases minutes of its Pentagon meetings at the height of the violence.

Addressing the party’s parliamentary group meeting/National Executive Council at a Naivasha hotel on Friday, the PM said he was not aware of such minutes. “They don’t exist. We can’t give them because they don’t exist,” the PM said.

Speaking during the party’s retreat at a Naivasha hotel on Friday, secretary-general Anyang Nyong’o termed Mr Ruto’s decision to present himself to ICC as “a purely personal matter.” Three Cabinet ministers believed to be linked with the election violence are reported to be seeking ways of telling their side of the story to The Hague by Sunday.

A government official who is conversant with the work of the International Criminal Court in Kenya said two ministers — one from Party of National Unity and the other from the Orange Democratic Movement — were working with their legal teams preparing to go before Mr Ocampo before the end of the week.

The official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of ICC proceedings, said the PNU minister is said to have asked the prosecutor for a location, date and time of a meeting but he was yet to get a response to his request.

There was some speculation that Mr Ocampo had set aside this whole week to hear those adversely mentioned.

Reported by Oliver Mathenge, Samuel Siringi, Samuel Kumba, Jeff Davis and Peter Ng’etich