Police are providing 24 hour security at the home an ICC witness in Nandi county which was attacked last Friday. CID officers have also started investigations into the attack. Five senior officers from the CID department went to the home where they collected stones and broken window panes used by youth to in the attack. Tthe ICC witness is currently under protection abroad.
Director of Public Prosecution Keriako Tobiko officially wrote to Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere directing him to investigate the matter and provide round the clock security to the home. “I direct that you cause urgent and speedy investigations to be carried into this incident, statements should be recorded and all persons who may have been involved interrogated,” said part of Tobiko’s letter to Iteere.
The letter has been copied to CID Director Ndegwa Muhoro and NGO Council chairman Ken Wafula. Tobiko who wants a file on the matter forwarded to him as soon as possible. The family of the witness including his 65-year-old father have not returned but have sought refuge at a secret location in Eldoret.
Attorney General Githu Muigai who is also chair of the Witness Protection Advisory board also directed the police chief to assist in locating the whereabouts of the family to enable the WPA consider the possibility of a preliminary stop-gap intervention, or protection for the family.
Muigai through his State Law Office Public Relations Officer Dominic Onyango said he will work with the ICC Liaison Office in Nairobi on the issue to ensure that justice is done. The mandate of the Witness Protection Agency under Section 3B(1) of the Witness Protection Act is to provide a framework and procedures for giving special protection, on behalf of the State, to persons in possession of important information and who are facing potential risk or intimidation due to their cooperation with prosecution authorities and other law enforcement agencies.
Under Section 3(2) of the Act, this protection extends to persons who are related to protected persons or who are in danger on account of testimony given/to be given by a witness. The AG said that even as the quest for justice remains on course in relation to the 2007 post-election violence, the public should refrain from temptations to agitation and the police should ensure law and order is maintained all the time. Officers from the WPA are in Eldoret to deal with the matter.
A group of the youth who attacked the home shouted slogans against the ICC as they pelted the house with stones. “They kept on shouting Hague! Hague! As they threw stones on the house at night”, said the father to the witness The witness is among those who were taken out of the country for protection abroad by the ICC. Yet The attack took place as the confirmation hearings against three of the poll violence suspects are going on at The Hague.
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