How MPs caused drama in Bensouda office over ‘evidence’
Former lawmaker says Miguna book contains allegations against Raila which he wanted court to look.
A former MP travelled to The Hague last year and dramatically handed over a book which he says contained new evidence on post-election violence cases in Kenya to the ICC prosecutor.
Drama unfolded in Fatou Bensouda’s office in December 2012 when four MPs differed over their colleague’s decision to hand over “new evidence” to the prosecutor.
The MPs, who were members of the parliamentary committee on Defence and Foreign Relations, chaired by the now Eldas MP Aden Keynan, were on working trips to Washington, New York and The Hague to conduct parliamentary investigations related to the committee’s mandate.
Mr Keynan, Edick Anyanga (Nyatike), former Cabinet minister Eugene Wamalwa and former Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo were in the committee delegation that also included parliamentary staff.
Mr Kiema caught the group unawares when he sought to address an important impromptu agenda before the MPs could embark on the mission’s issues.
The former MP, who now chairs the National Rainbow Coalition, handed over an envelope containing a pre-launched copy of a book authored by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s former aide Mr Miguna Miguna.
The book, Kidneys for the King, which was launched in January this year, contained allegations against Mr Odinga which Mr Kiema wanted the ICC prosecutor to open fresh investigations into.
“Yes, it is true I supplied a copy of the book to the ICC because I believed that it was important for the court to look at what Miguna had raised in it,” Mr Kiema told the Sunday Nation Saturday.
The former MP says Mr Miguna’s position and the close ties he had with Mr Odinga made the allegations raised in the book believable and that it was important for the prosecutor to look into it.
But Mr Kiema’s decision did not go down well with Mr Anyanga.
“I decided to cut short Mr Kiema’s introduction of his new evidence after I noticed he was out to obstruct the good cause of our trip,” said the Nyatike MP.
An argument ensued between members of the delegation as Ms Bensouda, court officials, a parliamentary clerk and Kenyan embassy officials watched in amazement.
But Saturday Mr Kiema said his mission was a success because Ms Bensouda accepted his “envelope”.
Ms Bensouda is said to have interjected in the arguments and asked the MPs to stick to the initial mission which was to investigate the source of a secret document that was allegedly hacked from the court’s website. The document was claimed to have originated from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Saturday, Mr Keynan, who led the delegation, was uncomfortable discussing details of the trip arguing that the “book drama” was now history.
“We should now stick to the records documented in the report we produced after the trip. That is what can be said to be important now,” Mr Keynan said.
Members of the delegation said they felt ambushed by Mr Kiema’s attempt to have the “new evidence” documented as part of the committee’s mission.
“He kept to himself as we boarded our plane at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). He was busy reading and analysing the book. We were travelling Business Class so he had his privacy; we didn’t know what he was up to until we arrived at Ms Bensouda’s office,” said one of the committee members.
After the drama, one of the MPs walked out of the meeting room briefly and made a direct call to Nairobi to report the incident to the then Prime Minister, warning him of an attempt to implicate him in the ICC case.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment