Wednesday, January 19, 2011

ICC statement taking flops yet again

Written By:KBC reporters/KNA,    Posted: Tue, Jan 18, 2011

Lady Justice Kalpana Rawal
Attempts to record evidence from Provincial Commissioners and Security Chiefs on the Kenya post-election violence failed yet again on Tuesday after Lady Justice Kalpana Rawal suspended the process.
Speaking to journalists, after a meeting with the International Criminal Court -ICC Investigators and lawyers representing the officers, Justice Rawal said the exercise would not kick off because of two pending court cases in Nairobi and The Hague.
"It was an order to do so after consultations with ICC officials because the two pending cases at The Hague and in Nairobi have to be heard and determined before statement taking," said Rawal.
She added that the exercise will waste public funds should it run parallel with the cases that have been filed. The ICC statement taking is now scheduled for 24th February 2011.
On December 7th, the lawyers representing the officers demanded to be issued with questions in advance while on 20th December 2010 the ICC team failed to travel to Nairobi due to bad weather in Europe that disrupted flights.
The Hague application file has not yet been decided while another case that was filed last week by a businessman will take at least two weeks to be determined.
Businessman Jackson Mwangi  who moved to court to stop the process argued that the ICC laws as stipulated in the Rome Statute are in contravention of the Kenyan constitution.
He told the court that Lady Justice Rawal is scheduled to assist Provincial commissioners and provincial police chiefs to record statements with ICC investigators.
Mwangi termed such a move as not in tandem with the rules of the ICC which he said conflict with the right of fair trial to any citizen.
Lawyers representing the  five  PCs and four PPOs want the ICC Pre-trial Chamber to halt the process of taking evidence from them, unless the court gives an assurance that they will not be prosecuted over the post-election violence.
The move comes after parliament passed a bill to have Kenya withdraw from the ICC, a step that Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo says did not have the backing of the government.
Mutula however says that adequate reforms in the judiciary and the police force could enable Kenya handle the matter locally without relying on the ICC.
This is the third time the process is being postponed.
It was first scheduled for November 24 last year but was deferred to December 7th after lawyers representing the officers demanded to be issued with questions in advance.
Ten witnesses are already listed for the statement taking exercise that should take about three days, once the process commences.
They include PCs who were in charge of various provinces then: Ernest Munyi (Coast), Abdul Mwasera (Western), Hassan Noor Hassan (Rift Valley), James Waweru (Nairobi) and Paul Olando (Nyanza).
The Provincial Police chiefs who were in the office at the time include Grace Kaindi [Nyanza], Everett Wasige (Rift Valley), King'ori Mwangi (Coast), Francis Munyambu (Western) and Njue Njagi who was in Nairobi at the time.

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