File | Nation
Protesters take to the streets in Kibera as officers stand guard in
2008. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said his office plans to
apply for a reinstatement of charges relating to violence meted out by
police, then under the command of Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, in Kibera.
By Emeka-Mayaka gekara gmayaka@ke.nationmedia.com and Murithi Mutiga mmutiga@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, September 24 2011 at 22:00
Posted Saturday, September 24 2011 at 22:00
In Summary
- The evidence introduced seems to fuel the prosecution’s theory that the Hussein-led police were commanded to carry out killings
A last-minute letter by Internal Security minister
George Saitoti appears to have unwittingly heaped blame for the 2008
violence on former police commissioner Hussein Ali.
The letter introduced by lawyer Karim Khan for Head of Public
Service Francis Muthaura was intended to clarify that his client was not
in control of the police force.
According to the
Saitoti letter, Maj-Gen Ali, the then police commissioner, was fully in
charge of the force accused of participating in the Naivasha and Nakuru
violence.
Add to the troubles
This
would appear to add to the troubles of the former police commissioner,
initially seen as in a slightly better position as he is facing the
lesser charge of being a co-perpetrator of the crimes.
International
Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has argued that Mr
Muthaura exercised considerable control over the police.
The
former police commissioner is caught in a battle for survival with Mr
Muthaura and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, each determined to
distance himself from police activities during the 2008 violence.
Perhaps inadvertently, Mr Kenyatta’s defence team also
ran a video clip capturing Prime Minister Raila Odinga alleging that the
government had given police order to shoot to kill.
This argument could reinforce the prosecution’s premise on the contribution of the Ali-commanded police to killings.
The
prosecutor alleges that Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura used their
influence to transport Mungiki militiamen to the Rift Valley to carry
out retaliatory attacks. Mr Muthaura is alleged to have asked Maj-Gen
Ali to ensure that the police did not interfere with the activities of
Mungiki.
The former police commissioner’s burden may
be increased if the Pre-Trial Chamber accepts the prosecutor’s plans to
add more charges in his case.
The prosecutor on
Wednesday indicated that he plans to apply for the reinstatement of
charges – which the judges dropped earlier because of insufficient
evidence – relating to violence meted out by police in Kisumu and in
Nairobi’s Kibera slum, mainly killings and rape.
Reinstate charges
If
he applies to reinstate charges after the pre-trial hearings, it would
mean another episode of confirmation of charges hearings for them.
Mr
Ocampo was responding to concerns raised by NGOs in the justice sector
who had accused his office of letting down victims of sexual violence by
conducting inadequate investigations.
“Some NGOs and lawyers will have different views,” he said. “The
main thing is that I have to search for the evidence, and the judges
make their decisions. Unfortunately on this one they made the decision
they did. I agree that Kisumu and Kibera are very important and very
serious. In fact, we have uncovered new evidence, and we know that some
of those in Kibera were Mungiki in police uniform. We will revisit
this.”
At a press conference on Wednesday in The Hague, the NGOs urged
the office of the prosecutor to reopen investigations into the sexual
crimes committed in Kibera and Kisumu after the 2007 elections, saying
victims had been let down by Mr Ocampo’s investigative team.
“Our
review of the reasons judges keep rejecting gender-based violence
charges are the generous use of secondary material and public reports by
the office of the prosecutor,” said Ms Brigid Inder, the executive
director of Hague-based Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice.
“We
have condemned this over-reliance on secondary material and would like
the office of the prosecutor to carry out more primary investigations,”
she added, saying 33 per cent of gender-based violence crimes brought
before the court in the last year had been dropped.
The
criticism of the prosecutor by the civil society groups is notable
because it comes from a group of NGOs dedicated to the support of the
work of the ICC.
The press conference where they spoke
was convened by the Coalition of the International Criminal Court
(CICC), which works to encourage support for justice for victims of
crimes against humanity.
I am sure or hoping that at one point the issue of GEMA will come up at the ICC case against Uhuru and Muthaura...their interest and resolve to keep Kibaki in government in 2007/2008 was a collective stand or decision by GEMA! As a result, I pity Ali as he is the Odd one out and might be sacrificed on the ICC alter if he don't see the unfolding scenario, but if he does, he might implicate the principle commander in chief of the Kenya armed forces of whom he took orders from!
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