ICC summonses: Iteere to serve Ocampo Six

By Standard TeamWritten summonses issued by International Criminal Court to the ‘Ocampo Six’ have been received by State Law Office and passed over to Police Commissioner for delivery to The Hague suspects.
In what signals role of Kenya Police in enforcement of The Hague orders, Attorney General Amos Wako received the summons deposited by ICC at the Kenyan Embassy in The Netherlands. He then wrote a covering letter asking Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, ordering him to serve them to the intended recipients promptly. The police chief would now send his officers to the Ocampo Six with delivery books for which they or their lawyers must sign. This is because ICC has to be convinced they were received by so that should they ignore them, it won’t be said they were not served.
According to Criminal Procedure Code, summonses are supposed to be served by a police officer and Wako immediately handed them over to Iteere to avoid any delay, reported a source in the State Law Office. He received them in a parcel from Kenya’s Ambassador to The Netherlands Ruthie Chepkoech Rono, on Monday.
Iteere confirmed it was his duty to ensure the summonses were served on the six who include Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura, who chairs a national security caucus. Others are Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Tinderet MP, Henry Kosgey, Eldoret North MP, William Ruto, Postmaster General, Hussein Ali, and Kass FM Head of Operations, Joshua arap Sang.
"There is no alternative. This is a formality," said Iteere, when he spoke to The Standard, yesterday.
The decision demonstrated the role the police of a State like Kenya, which has domesticated the Rome Statute, and which has declared co-operation with ICC in relation to investigations and cases against its citizens, has to play.
Without a police of its own, ICC relies on State police to enforce its orders, including summonses and even arrests and handover of suspects if it becomes necessary at any stage of the investigations or hearing of cases.
Arrest warrants
The action by AG not only displayed the seriousness of the summonses, which if defied could be replaced with arrest warrants. But it also showed the role of three key offices in the new stage the Kenya-ICC cases have reached. These are the AG’s office, that of the Police Commissioner, and the Internal Security minister George Saitoti, who in this case is in a vantage position for ICC because he is acting Foreign minister.

After receiving formal summonses from the International Criminal Court, Attorney General Amos Wako (left) promptly handed them to Police Commissioner, Mathew Iteere (right), whose officers are expected to serve the six suspects. Iteere said he would ensure they are served. [PHOTOS: FILE/STANDARD]

The three offices that take orders from President Kibaki, would play a crucial role as the cases against six Kenyans, two of whom work closely with the President, progress from next month, when they appear at The Hague for reading of the charges facing them and their rights under the Rome Statute.
This is despite Kibaki’s fight for deferral of the cases for a year. Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his party, ODM, have rejected the deferral bid, which will be discussed today informally at the UN Security council.
The burden of the police serving summonses as ICC enforcement agents even against the bigwigs in Government like Muthaura and Uhuru, who they salute daily, lend credence to demands by Moreno-Ocampo on Monday that they leave office. Alternatively, He wants them to have limited to roles that would not allow them to interfere with ICC cases, witnesses, or programmes.
The same officers serving the summonses could also one day be called upon to become witnesses and could be asked to give evidence in the cases.
Kenya’s Permanent Representative to UN, Macharia Kamau, will also have an informal meeting with United Nations Security Council. Acting Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Patrick Wamoto, confirmed Kamau would be alone.
"The Government is not sending an additional team to back up Mr Macharia. He is competent to represent the country at that level, which in any case, it is for ambassadors only,’’ explained Wamoto.
Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, who has been championing Kibaki’s deferral bid through shuttle diplomacy across the world, claimed Moreno-Ocampo had no basis for demanding relocation of Muthaura.
He said the ICC prosecutor had politicised his case against the six Kenyans by issuing ultimatums to the President.
Fire or relieve
"It does not make sense for Moreno-Ocampo to give an ultimatum to the President to fire or relieve Muthaura of his duties," claimed the VP.
He argued Kenyans should ignore the demands because, "the powers of the Head of State cannot be watered down by ICC."
He was reacting to the Monday three-week ultimatum by Ocampo to Muthaura. "My mission is not to protect the so-called Ocampo Six, but ensure justice for all Kenyans," said Kalonzo.
The Security Council is set to discuss the Kenya case, though US has stated it would veto any attempts to defer the trials.
Wamoto added today’s meeting is not expected to give any verdict on deferral request. "Kenyans should not expect a verdict from tomorrow’s (today’s) meeting. That will only be an opportunity for the Government to explain why it deserves a deferral ahead of a formal UN Security meeting where a decision on the same would be made," explained the PS.
President of the UN Security Council Li Baodang last week announced there would be an informal meeting between the Security Council members and Kenya. This was after Kenya delivered a letter, through Kamau, arguing why ICC case was not auguring well for the country’s stability.
Following those developments ODM on Sunday wrote a letter aimed at deflating the efforts to defer the case to the Security Council. In a letter signed by ODM Secretary General Anyang’ Nyong’o, the party listed 16 reasons the UN should reject Kenya’s plea. The letter was delivered to the UN on Sunday.
But yesterday, PNU termed ODM’s actions irresponsible. It drafted a strongly worded response with 16 reasons to repudiate ODM arguments. The letter was copied to all foreign embassies in Kenya.
PNU accused ODM of continually politicising the ICC process and lacking patriotism. "It is a clear demonstration of the blatant irresponsibility of ODM and its naked pursuit of power without any patriotic political commitment to the dignity and sovereignty of the nation," said the letter PNU Secretary General, Kiraitu Murungi, signed.