Friday, December 24, 2010

PM Honour's Promise to The Late Peter Kihara



Kenya seeks ICC nod to try Ocampo Six

BY EVELYN WANJIRU and PMPS

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 23 - Prime Minister Raila Odinga disclosed on Thursday that the government is to write to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to allow it to try the "Ocampo Six" in Kenya.

He said they are working to put in place a local judicial process that will see those named by ICC Prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo as authors of the 2007/2008 post poll chaos tried at home.

"Those named should not therefore fear for being named to go to The Hague. We are exploring   an alternative judicial process to the matter," he said adding that it was possible to do so without compromising justice.

He said they had agreed with President Kibaki to pursue that path next year adding the country's leadership wanted to foster peace, forgiveness and reconciliation in the country.

The Premier however emphasised that by taking that path, Kenyans were not abandoning the pursuit for the truth behind the post election violence as a means of ending the culture of impunity in the country.

Speaking in Githunguri, Kiambu county where he handed over a four bed roomed house he built for the widow of freedom fighter Peter Kihara Young, Mr Odinga termed as 'cheap propaganda'  talk that he provided Mr Ocampo with the six names to eliminate competition in the 2012 Presidential race.

He pointed out that they originated from the Justice Waki Commission of enquiry into the post election violence and later handed over to Chief mediator Kofi Annan who in turn handed them over to  Mr. Ocampo.

"It is morally wrong to eliminate competition in such a manner and I am not the type to do so," he added.

The PM reiterated that Kenyan MPs invited the ICC to Kenya when they failed to agree to the formation of a local judicial process to try suspects of post election violence and asked that the suspects to be tried in The Hague.

Speaking at the same venue, Lands Minister James Orengo said the ICC issue was a wakeup call to Kenyans to fix the local justice system to be credible enough to handle cases of such an international magnitude.

On the decision by MPs to pass a motion urging Kenya to pull out of the Rome Statute and the ICC process, Mr Orengo cautioned them against taking hasty decision that they might regret in future.


Read more: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Kenya-seeks-ICC-nod-to-try-Ocampo-Six.html#ixzz192HJcazi
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