Uhuru denies links with Mungiki sect

Written By:KBC reporter/Reuters,    Posted: Fri, Sep 30, 2011

Deputy Prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta, appearing at The Hague on Thursday to try to avoid being tried for crimes against humanity Kenyatta denied any links with the outlawed Mungiki sect. Uhuru's defense team termed claims made by the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of a meeting held at State House as unfounded and ridiculous. Uhuru who took the stand at the court instead put the blamed Prime Minister Raila Odinga  for violence that rocked the country. Denying charges that he himself urged fellow Kikuyu tribesmen to attack other groups, including followers of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Kenyatta said it was Odinga's refusal to accept defeat in the presidential election of December 2007 which led to the deaths of over 1,200 people. "I will not say he was criminally responsible, because I have no evidence of him supplying arms," said Uhuru, "But he indeed had political responsibility." The Finance minister further rejected charges that he helped organise violence and said he had always worked for national unity. Ocampo had alleged that Uhuru attended a Mungiki meeting that was hosted by President Kibaki at State House in Nairobi. The meeting held mid or end of January 2008 was aimed at planning retaliatory attacks in Rift Valley during post-election violence In his sworn testimony, Uhuru denied allegations by prosecution witnesses that, on the night of December 30 when the election results were announced, he held a meeting with figures from the mainly Kikuyu Mungiki gang to plan violence. "That event did not take place," he said. Exhausted by his work during the election, he added: "I went home to sleep." Under questioning by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, he denied offering to pay Mungiki members for attacks. "We were really just trying to calm the people," Kenyatta said. "Little did I know that would mean myself being brought to the International Criminal Court." The defence has argued that two prosecution witnesses lied, possibly for profit.