Raila must follow Uhuru, Ruto to ICC, say MPs

BY ANTHONY KAGIRI

1/1 NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 3 - Members of Parliament allied to Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto have launched a scathing attack against the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo and Prime Minister Raila Odinga accusing them of working together in a 2012 General Elections plot. The 17 legislators who appeared to give credibility to rumours that the two are on Ocampo’s list of six, on Friday alleged that the ICC process had been hatched to eliminate Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto from the presidential race and “create room” for their opponent in the race towards the 2012 elections. They were infuriated by Mr Ocampo’s statement that the trial will go beyond 2012, and saw it as a political statement. “Let Ocampo and his brother Kofi Annan know that if Raila is not in the list of six this country will go to the dogs,” warned Nithi MP Kareke Mbiuki a key ally of Mr Kenyatta. It's understood the MPs came to the defence of the two simply because their names were mentioned in the report of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights report which formed a basis for the ICC investigation. Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto said: “This process is a platform for threats, witch-hunting and using the judicial process to settle political issues.” The legislators maintained that Prime Minister Raila Odinga must be prosecuted for “leading the country to anarchy” by leading mass action in protest at the outcome of the 2007 election results. “We are wondering why Ocampo is walking around with a key suspect,” said Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni referring to Thursday’s Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation conference where the prosecutor spoke along with Mr Odinga. The MPs vowed to stop the ICC process legally through a parliamentary process. “Ocampo has no business being in this country. He should keep off Kenya,” said nominated MP Sophia Abdi. The MPs also directed their anger at the Cabinet Committee on ICC matters accusing it of “mortgaging the country for their political ambitions.” “We believe the Cabinet Committee is selling the supremacy of this country,” said Mr Kioni. Mr Kioni questioned how the committee had been given the mandate to hand over classified security meetings minutes to The Hague court. “Could it be that the criteria they used to delete some minutes was meant to fix some people and clear others?” he wondered. Lands Minister James Orengo also faced the wrath of the MPs who accused him of being part of the plot. Kigumo MP Jamlek Kamau accused him of “behaving like the country’s Attorney General.” “Orengo seems to have more information than the Cabinet Committee,” he claimed. The MPs said the ICC process lacked merit and professionalism especially after the discovery that some witnesses had been bribed to give incriminating evidence against Mr Ruto. “We were surprised to hear Mr Ocampo making political statements,” said Mr Ruto (Chepalungu MP).

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