HEAD of Public Service Francis Muthaura is considering resigning before flying to The Hague next week. The revelations came as Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Monday insisted in Dubai that those responsible for the 2008 post election violence must be punished.
A source at the Office of the President revealed that a temporary resignation of the most powerful civil servant in Kenya was being considered.“Discussions on the exit of Ambassador Muthaura are in progress. It is only a matter of time,” indicated a top official at OP who cannot be quoted.
Muthaura’s resignation is being considered to avoid a possible confrontation with the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo who could report a breach of the conditions set by the ICC to the Ocampo Six and that could lead to the issue of an arrest warrant for Muthaura.
Muthaura is chairman of the National Security Advisory Committee, Cabinet Secretary, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, as well as Head of Public Service boss. A Wikileaks cable released this month referred to him as the 'de facto president'. Two weeks ago Ocampo said he would not continue with testimony taking until Muthaura, stopped exercising his authority over the police.
The other ICC suspects are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta; former minister William Ruto; former minister Henry Kosgey; former Police Commissioner Gen. Hussein Ali; and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang.
Harambee House insiders are worried that Muthaura might be treated like former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba. Interpol pounced on Bemba in Belgium on May 23, 2008 after Ocampo’s request for a sealed warrant was granted following violation of court conditions. President Kibaki has been made aware of the issue by his close advisers. Yesterday Kibaki was in Harambee House for the second time this week and met PNU ministers.
Yesterday, Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara warned that suspects might not come back.“Breaching the conditions already set by the court may be considered an obstruction of the activities of the court and could lead to a possible issuance of sealed warrants to control contacts of the suspects and the witnesses,” Imanyara declared.
Ndaragua MP Jeremiah Kioni blamed plans to have Muthaura resign on undue external pressure.“For this we will have all ourselves to blame for putting unnecessary pressure on Muthaura and the others to resign based on external aggression,” Kioni said.“I have not heard of his plans to resign. But that is bad news indeed,” stated assistant Minister Kareke Mbiuki.
Mbiuki was yesterday among seven MPs who yesterday applied for visas at the Netherlands embassy seeking to travel with Uhuru to The Hague.
Ocampo is concerned that Muthaura's continued stay in office might hinder his ability to prove a state policy to attack civilians in Kisumu and Kibera.
Earlier this year provincial police chiefs refused to give evidence to the ICC making it difficult for the prosecutor to make a strong case against the state.
As a result, the Pre-Trial Chamber left out Kisumu and Kibera when issuing summons to Muthaura, Ali and Uhuru. “With respect to these events in Kisumu and Kibera, the Chamber notes that the Prosecutor, although mentioning in his application that the violence was executed by the Kenyan Police Forces, failed to provide an accurate factual and legal submission which would require the Chamber to examine whether the acts of violence were part of an attack pursuant to or in furtherance of a State policy,” the judges said.
The judges however recognized that the police used excessive force in Kisumu and that their raids produced deaths, injuries and rapes in Kibera.
On Monday in Dubai Prime Minister Raila Odinga declared, “Somebody will have to take responsibility for the deaths of more than 1,300 people in the post election violence of 2008," according to a statement from his press unit.
Raila said punishment for the masterminds of post-election violence would not only end impunity but also the culture of forming commissions to investigate injustices only to refuse to implement their recommendations.“If it is not the six, then it must be some other people and Kenyans deserve to know,” Raila said.“Killing 1,300 people is not an easy or simple task. In Egypt, they had protests that went on for about two months. So far, only 300 people have been found to have been killed and a minister has been charged in court over their death,” he said.
The PM said he is prepared to face charges if he is found to have been behind the murders. Raila is attending a conference on Education without Borders in the United Arab Emirates and returns on Wednesday.
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