Ocampo: Mungiki, arms and the State House link

By Evelyn Kwamboka
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo released a damning report explaining how the Mungiki were given police uniforms and arms at State House before ferrying them to Naivasha in military trucks.
In the 40-page Document Containing Charges released last evening, Moreno-Ocampo revealed how the Head of the Public Service Francis Muthaura issued Mungiki, Uhuru Kenyatta, and Hussein Ali pursued an organisation policy to keep PNU in power.
According to the prosecutor the attacks in Naivasha were launched in an orderly and well-planned manner on the morning of January 27, 2008.
He said 162 Mungiki members in Nairobi who had been earmarked to execute the attacks were mobilised through text messages requesting them to report at specific locations in Nairobi. They were then picked up by Citi Hoppa buses and transported through secret routes to the State House in Nairobi.
Upon arrival at the State House, Moreno-Ocampo claimed in the document filed at the ICC court the outlawed sect members were addressed by a Mungiki leader in the presence of senior Government officials.
"Mungiki members were then transported from the State House to Naivasha in the backs of military trucks by men wearing Kenya army uniforms," Moreno-Ocampo alleges.
The trucks contained new machetes and wooden clubs, which the Mungiki were instructed to use for the battle in Naivasha," he claimed.
Last night State House in a statement through Presidential Press Service, termed the reports, "reckless, baseless and untrue".
"As we have previously stated, State House has never hosted any meeting of the Mungiki as claimed by Moreno-Ocampo," the brief statement noted.
But Moreno-Ocampo claimed that Muthaura, Ali and Uhuru were responsible for the "retaliatory" attacks that rocked Nakuru and Naivasha immediately President Kibaki was sworn-in on December 30, 2007.
"The primary purpose of the attacks was to strengthen PNU hold on power after the swearing-in of the President," he claimed.
The Prosecutor claimed Uhuru and Muthaura relied on a network of loyal pro-PNU Government officials, businessmen, and local politicians by providing the attackers with Administration Police uniforms, weapons, transportation, accommodation and logistical support. The Mungiki were broken up into groups of ten fighters each, under command of an experienced Mungiki member of the military wing.
With the evidence and charges up, the Prosecutor is set to legally battle it out with the defence team at the confirmation of charges hearings beginning September 21.
The Prosecutor yesterday released the Document Containing the Charges as per the deadline that was set by Pre-Trial Chamber II. The Prosecutor alleged that the National Security Committee, chaired by Muthaura, failed to act on Naivasha District Security Committee’s request for the arrest of 12 individuals involved in organising and financing the Naivasha attacks.
"Although one of the local organisers of the violence publicly admitted that the Mungiki was used during the attacks in Naivasha, the prosecution is not aware of any of the main organisers having been prosecuted for the attacks," he stated.
He claimed none of these individuals was arrested; instead they were allowed to fuel and incite more violence.
According to records at the ICC prosecution office, only 19 people were arrested during the violence in Naivasha, and were charged with preparation to commit a felony. They were released by the court on Sh3, 000 bail. By the time of the violence, Muthaura had also developed close links with the Mungiki, through his subordinates.
"Muthaura once intervened to secure the release of Mungiki members who had been arrested by the police at a Mungiki gathering prior to the 2007 General Election. In one of the meetings in Nairobi in early January 2008, Muthaura requested Mungiki leaders to deploy their members to the Rift Valley to carry out retaliatory attacks," he stated.
Moreno-Ocampo alleged the Head of Public Service also assured the Mungiki leaders that the police would not interfere with their work.
"During the meeting, he placed a phone call to Ali to instruct him to ensure that pro-PNU youth would not be prevented from going into the Rift Valley. During another phone conversation with Ali in mid-January 2008, Muthaura reminded Ali that the Mungiki were working with them, and ordered him not to arrest them," he claimed.