Monday, December 12, 2011

Kenyans’ date with Ocampo, Bensouda



By CHRIS WAMALWA in US
The Hague Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is scheduled to hold a Town Hall-style forum with the Kenyan Diaspora in America on the 2008 post-election violence and International Criminal Court (ICC) process in Kenya.
The meeting, which has attracted the attention of many Kenyans living abroad, is set to take place on Friday, December 16 in New York, and the speakers include Moreno-Ocampo’s deputy who is billed
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo will hold a meeting over the 2008 post-election violence and ICC process on December 16 in New York. [PHOTOS: FILE/STANDARD]
to succeed him when he leaves ICC next July.
Gambia-born Mrs Fatou Bensouda was picked by ICC as a compromise candidate to take over from the controversial and outspoken Moreno-Ocampo. Coming as Kenyans await Pre-Trial Chamber II ruling on whether all or a few of the Kenyan six high-profiled suspects should be committed to trial, or set free altogether, the discussions will also focus on next year’s elections.
Back in Kenya it is reported three of the suspects are unsettled by the meeting, which they believe will be used by the ICC to gauge the mood of Kenyans over The Hague process, and consequently fear its proceedings may be used to justify a ‘political judgment’ detrimental to their side.
Indeed, sources reveal, some friends of the suspects were last week contemplating sending lawyers to the US to sit in the meeting and ask questions favourable to their interests. However, formalities of visa technicalities and time factors made them change mind.
According to the organisers, the event will feature interactive discussion between a diverse group of other guest speakers, including Prof Makau Mutua, a Kenyan legal scholar teaching in the US, Ms Lupita Nyong’o, one of Kenya’s top actresses and Mr Mwashuma Nyatta, a Kenyan-born, US-based artist.
"The event will feature a frank discussion on the interplay between the International Criminal Court and the upcoming elections in Kenya in 2012. This event will provide a forum to discuss the role of Kenyans living abroad in contributing to peace and justice in Kenya in 2012," explained Shamiso Mbizvo, a Kenyan student at Harvard University, who sent out the invitations and is receiving confirmations.
In an e-mail invitation sent to Kenyans living in the US, the Kenya Global Unity (KGU) President Eng. Charles Kodi, explained: "Many Kenyans here have confirmed they will attend the meeting because if the people suspects are not charged, it is likely there will be another circle of violence after next year’s elections."
Speaking to The Standard on phone from Connecticut, Kodi said so far the confirmation of Kenyans planning to attend was overwhelming.
"This should serve to show Kenyans especially those in leadership just how ordinary Kenyans are concerned about the whole ICC and post-poll violence prosecutions are being handled. Barely a year to the elections, Kenyans are living with fear at the prospects of another cycle of violence in the country," he added.
The meeting comes amid disturbing reports that only two Kenyans have been convicted over the killing of some 1,500 people during the country’s worst violence four years ago. The damning report released by Human Rights Watch laid the blame squarely on Judiciary and police incompetence.
A probe by the watchdog rights body into a Department of Public Prosecutions report that claimed that 94 post-violence cases had resulted in convictions found out only two people had in fact been convicted of murder. A further three have been convicted of robbery with violence, one of assault and another of grievous body harm, the New York-based group said.
"Hundreds of inquest files literally gather dust in police stations," the group said in a report released Friday. Neela Ghoshal, the group’s East Africa researcher said: "Police officers have been unwilling to investigate their colleagues, the general quality of investigations has been poor and some police prosecutors have proven incompetent."
Kenyan police killed at least 405 people during the weeks of chaos, injured more than 500 others and raped dozens of women and girls, but enjoy "absolute impunity," the group said.
Hundreds of others were murdered in what quickly turned from a dispute over election results into ethnic revenge killings.
The ICC has charged six top Kenyan politicians and officials over the unrest after Kenya failed to set up a local tribunal to try the perpetrators.
They include Deputy Prime minister Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s first president, former Cabinet ministers William Ruto and Henry Kosgey, ex-police chief Mohammed Hussein Ali, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and Kass FM’s head of operations and presenter Joshua arap Sang.
"The limited success of cases in the ordinary courts shows that Kenyan authorities have been unwilling or unable to prosecute post-election violence," the report added.
Kenya is scheduled to hold general elections next year in which Uhuru and Ruto plan to run for presidency. The rights group voiced worry that suspects in the poll chaos have not been prosecuted.
"We are concerned about the fact that most of those who have been suspected of being involved in the post-election violence haven’t been held accountable," Ghoshal told reporters.
"The fact that the ICC is prosecuting six high-level suspects, if the charges against those suspects are confirmed, we would hope that that would reduce the probability of post-election violence this time around," HRW added.

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