Ruto wants his name out of poll chaos report

Eldoret North MP William Ruto told Court yesterday that he still wants his name removed from a report that links him to post-election violence.

Ruto, who is among six Kenyans named by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo as alleged masterminds of the violence has sued the Kenya National Human Rights Commission.

He approached court in 2009 saying the report, titled On the Brink of Precipice: A human Rights Account of Kenya’s Post 2007 Election Violence, accuses him of planning, inciting and financing the violence.

Chief Justice Evan Gicheru has appointed high court judges Kalpana Rawal, Jeanne Gacheche and philemona Mwilu to deal with the case.

The case was scheduled to begin yesterday but if failed to kick off because his lawyer Katwa Kigen was held up in another matter in Nakuru. The three –judge bench pushed the hearing to March 24 and 25.

The Eldoret North MP says the incriminating report has affected his rights and legitimate expectations. He wants the court to expunge his name from the report arguing that he was never given an opportunity to give his side of the story to the commission.

A similar case seeking to quash part of the KNCHR report linking Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta to the 2007-2008 violence was rejected by the courts last year.

High court judges Roselyne Wendoh and Abida-Ali Aroni declined to grant Uhuru the orders saying the report was already in the public domain and issuing such an order may not offer sufficient remedy. The judges held that quashing parts of the KNHRC report may not be the best remedy available. The judges noted that the report has already been distributed where it was intended.

In his rejected case Uhuru had argued that he was not given a fair hearing by the human rights agency yet he was entitled to be informed about the adverse allegations about him.

Ruto faults the report, saying it was compiled by KNCHR “purporting to exercise its statutory jurisdiction” but it ended up affecting his rights and legitimate expectations.

The suspended minister further says that he was never served formally nor notified of the existence of the report or the adverse comments against him.

The KNCHR report has names of politicians and business people who allegedly organised and funded the violence that followed the 2007 elections.

The commission had said the former minister and other politicians adversely mentioned in its report on post-election violence were all given opportunity to state their side of the story but failed to do so.

Through lawyer Katwa Kigen, Ruto says the implication was reckless as it was not based on any reasonable evidential material and that it was oppressive and unfair.