16 thoughts on “Professor Gathi Sets Up Blog for Kenya’s ICC Case”
Kenyans linked to drug trade banned from UK Skip to content.Kenyans linked to drug trade banned from UK .
Friday, 25 March 2011 00:02 BY MAUREEN MUDI . REVELATION: British High Commissioner Rob Macaire with KPA MD Gichiri Ndua in Mombasa yesterday.
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The British government has banned a number of Kenyans from entering the country over drug trafficking claims. British High Commissioner Rob Macaire however said he could not divulge the details of those banned, since “it is a matter between us and the individuals”.Macaire said his government has now partnered with American and the Kenyan police to tackle drug trafficking in the country.
Without divulging details, the Macaire said they have a list of people barred from travelling to UK, which keeps on changing. “I don’t want to discuss about their names, or who they are, but we sure have them and keep on reviewing the same periodically in light of the information that comes to the UK’s attention,” he said.
Macaire was speaking at the Muslims Education Welfare Association while on a three-day tour to Mombasa. He said Britain’s partnership with the relevant authorities will ensure that the drugs problem is tackled once and for all. “We are looking at the imports, usage share and transit of the illegal drugs through Kenya and doing everything within our means to help,” Macaire said.
The official expressed concern that drug use poses a serious problem in Kenya, especially along the Coast, and his government does not take lightly any information and allegations, revolving around drugs.“Any evidence around the involvement of senior people that are implicated in the drugs trade really interests us and we handle it with utmost concern,” he said. Macaire said the UK is keen to assist Kenya in countering piracy, cyber crime and terrorism.
His statement comes months after the US government announced that it had a list of names of individuals banned from the country over drug trafficking.
Internal Security minister George Saitoti released a list of those being investigated over drug trafficking, including Kisauni MP Ali Hassan Joho, Juja MP William Kabogo, Kilome MP Harun Mwau, Makadara MP Gideon Mbuvi and Mombasa based businessman Ali Punjani.
Saitoti has however since told Parliament that so far, police had found no evidence linking any of these people to drug trafficking.
The Six named by Ocampo are some of those who are in drug businessand they are the leading drug-barons in Kenya!
Ocampo finalises witnessess evidence to content.Ocampo finalises witnessess evidence .
Friday, 25 March 2011 00:01 BY STAR REPORTER . VIOLENCE: Demonstrators in Kibera in January 2008.
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THE WITNESSES were taken to The Hague last week to confirm their evidence before the Ocampo Six appear before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber judges on April 7 and 8.
The witnesses were flown out of safe houses in East Africa this year and accommodated in secret locations across Europe where they live. They may have to wait for years before the cases come to full trial and they have to give evidence.
The evidence against the Ocampo Six is undergoing thorough authentication as ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo finalises his case.
The Pre-Trial Chamber judges went through the evidence before issuing their summonses against the Ocampo Six. Sources indicate that some witnesses then had to appear in person to confirm their statements.Ocampo will be relying on evidence that is both written, verbal, recorded on tape and video.
Eleven witnesses who were hiding in a neighbouring East African country were flown to Europe two weeks ago and three of them were taken direct to The Hague before they boarded their flights to new locations.
The Ocampo Six are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, former police chief Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, former ministers Henry Kosgey and William Ruto, and Kass FM broadcaster Joshua arap Sang. All six say they will travel to The Hague in April but Ruto claims Ocampo’s evidence is based on false witnesses and rumours.
Last week Ocampo demanded that Muthaura and Uhuru step aside from public office arguing that they may use their positions to interfere with the witnesses. Most of the witnesses are from Rift Valley and Central regions.
Eldoret South MP Peris Simam said, “We thought the ICC would carry out proper investigations into this issue but this did not happen and that is why we have been saying that these cases need to be deferred so that they are done locally after proper investigations.”
For their own safety, the witnesses are not likely to return to Kenya after the ICC cases are concluded. Powerful nations who are members of the UN Security Council are supporting the ICC protection mechanisms for the witnesses and their families.
The witnesses have requested not to return to Kenya for at least ten years after the ICC cases are concluded, according to informed sources.
Meanwhile, secret graves may account for the youth who went missing in the Rift Valley during the post-election violence. Hundreds of youth may have been pushed into manholes, wells and trenches where they were buried during the post-election violence yet police have never investigated how or where they went missing.
Kanu officials have now petitioned the government to release an official tally of the people killed during the violence as one way to prepare data for possible compensation of the victims killed, injured, those who lost property and the displaced.
Kanu Vice Chairman Gideon Moi has demanded compensation for the victims saying many youth were shot by the police. He said those who died from all communities must be assisted and IDPs from all communities must be resettled.
An estimated 1,300 Kenyans died during the chaos and Kanu grassroots leaders who attended a weekend prayer meeting for the youth killed at Tembelio in Eldoret East demanded that names of all those who died be made public.
Former Mt Elgon MP Joe Kimkung said the Kalenjin lost many more people during the violence than Kenyans realise.
Miguna is right that Uhuru, Kibaki’s chosen successor whom he want’s to impose on us, is a rich spoilt kid, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He has never been inside a crowded matatu (unlike Obama in ’85) or tarmacked for job like you and me. He has never walked down River Road or sat at the jobless corner outside Hilton with hunger pangs kicking causing the ribs to vibrate like so many Kenyans who are sat there right now. He can’t even speak proper fluent Kikuyu, just the matusis he has rehearsed overnight while knocking those cold Tuskers.. “Wambui rehe njohi!..”, you can almost imagine him banging the table as he orders more to be lined up. His Kikuyu is as good as Gideon Moi’s grasp of Kalenjin- he says Beringoh instead of Baringo! For the very first time in his life, he’s scared about going to jail if it will be proved he supported mass murder in 2008 committed by the ruthless Mungiki gangs. I hear Mama Ngina is worried sick because of the real predicaments his favourite son is facing. Poor Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, when the going gets tough, Kibaki will eventually betray you just like he has done to Martha Karua, Matere Keriri, Raila’s MOU, Stanley Murage, Mary Wambui, Chris Murungaru…etc etc. The day of reckoning is near. Maybe a bottle of Vodka in a dark room will console but for how long?
NOTE> Uhurus Mama Ngina has lost alot of weight and too Beth Mugo has been hararing and she too has been loosing weight knowing what fate awaits their son!
Death squads still at work inside police Skip to content.Death squads still at work inside police .
Saturday, 26 March 2011 00:01 BY TOM MBOYA . EXECUTED: Mourners at Mugoiri during the burial of two brothers allegedly killed by the squad.
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THE extrajudicial execution of a witness in a Makadara court case has demonstrated that death squads are still operational within the police despite government claims that units such as Kwekwe have been disbanded.
The squad members were reportedly responsible for the murder of teacher Kenneth Irungu Waituika whose body was found dumped in Oloitokitok two weeks ago.
Family members claimed that Waituika was grabbed in Muthurwa market while having lunch, bundled into a car and murdered five hours later.
Waituika had been pursuing an incident in which his cousins Peter Irungu and John Kamuri were killed in late December after they were handed over to Kayole police for refusing to pay an arbitrary Sh50 extra fare demanded by the conductor of a matatu they were travelling in from Muranga.The bullet-riddled bodies of the two brothers were later found by police at Gatongora in Ruiru.
After Irungu confronted the crew of the matatu in January, the police charged him with being a member of the proscribed Mungiki sect. He was released on bond.
Irungu disappeared shortly after he appeared in Makadara court on March 11 when the next hearing of the case was set for May 6. The 15-man hit squad continues operations but the only thing that has changed is its name, and the members used for each job, according to multiple police sources who have to remain nameless for security reasons. From Kwekwe, the squad has changed its name to Eagle, Sierra and others.
The squad officers are well known in both CID headquarters at Mazingira House and the headquarters of the police at Vigilance House where Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere sits.
They are mainly responsible for the extrajudicial killings condemned by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston who demanded that the squad be disbanded in 2009. Then Police Commissioner Maj-Gen Hussein Ali denied that any such units existed.
On the same day that Alston issued his report, human rights activists Oscar Kingara and Oulu GPO were shot dead on State House Avenue on March 5, 2009.
Oscar was eliminated because the squad believed he was holding Sh18 million in Mungiki funds. Oscar had vehemently been speaking out against extrajudicial killings.
Depending on the nature of the job, the officers are quickly assembled from various places before being sent out to do their duties, mainly in the Special Crime Prevention Unit.
Among the police rank and file, the rogue cops are referred to as “strongmen” because of the “bonuses” they earn and the power they exercise over some of their bosses who are unable to reign in their excesses.
Some senior officers either fear being eliminated themselves or have become tangled up in extortion rackets run by the team and fear exposure.
Multiple police sources corroborated reports that the squad members were responsible for the abduction of Mungiki leader Kimani Ruo after he was acquitted in court in 2007.
A Nation journalist photographed officers attempting to arrest Ruo as he left the court and briefly scared them off. Police have always denied any involvement in his disappearance.
Ruo then proceeded on foot to Aga Khan Walk in Nairobi where he was held, bundled into the boot of an unmarked car and whisked away.
He was reportedly detained for three days. He was so badly tortured that a local police boss refused to take him back into custody. The squad members then dismembered his body and dumped the parts in different places in Nairobi. Ruo’s widow has yet to get his body or be told what happened to her husband. She has filed a case at the High Court demanding that the police disclose his whereabouts since they arrested him.
On April 13, 2008, the squad “carjacked” Virginia Nyakio, the wife of Maina Njenga who was then leader of the Mungiki gangs. The squad stole nearly Sh5 million from her and drove her to an open field in Ngong. They forced her driver Njoroge Wagacha to watch as they raped her in turns before bludgeoning her to death with a stick. The bodies of the two were found by police in Gakoe Forest, Gatundu in Thika.
Sources say the police did this after getting reports that Nyakio, Kimani and Mungiki spokesman Gitau Njuguna had set up their own Lion Squad to counter Kwekwe. Njuguna was shot dead in broad daylight on Luthuli Avenue in downtown in Nairobi on November 5, 2009.
The squad is so feared within the police that the head of one police unit has had to acquire two armed guards who accompany him everywhere after he fingered one rogue cop found with stolen property from a murder victim.
The six officers caught on camera executing three men on Langata Road on January 21 this year are said to be among the “strongmen.” Internal Security minister George Saitoti ordered that the officers be interdicted and investigated but nothing has yet come to court.
The detectives, four from the Special Crime Prevention Unit and two from the Flying Squad, are currently suspended. The squad’s mode of killing changes from time to time to protect their identity. They can shoot suspects, kill them with machetes, or bludgeon them to death to make it look like “mob justice”.
When there are no jobs, the officers reportedly engage in extortion and some have become wealthy with investments in real estate. They can be hired by politicians and businessmen to “deal” with their problem at a cost of Sh100,000 to Sh1 million for a clean hit job.
When they are with their colleagues, they joke about life and death and how many suspects they have executed. Their colleagues fear for their lives if they become the whistleblowers.
Executive Director Ndungu Wainaina of the International Centre for Policy and Conflict yesterday said the special police units could even be a threat to national security. “These units are clandestine elimination squads. They are criminal units which are used by the state to do its work,” said Wainaina.
Wainaina said the squads have also been used to protect the high and mighty who commit all sorts of crimes such as drug traffickers. He said they are not accountable to any authority and operate with impunity.
Mutuma Ruteere, the Director for the Centre for Human Rights and Police Studies, said elite police units have over the time abused their power. Rutere said government should first acknowledge that the units are facing credibility crisis and decide how best to reconstitute them.
There have been at least five squads in Kenya. Some such as Kwekwe, Eagle and Special Unit retain the same officers but different commanders.
Alfa Romeo was set up in the 1990s to deal with armed robberies but has since been disbanded due to public outcry. Kanga Squad was set up over a decade ago to deal with serious crime and Mungiki but has since been disbanded. The Kanga squad was used to attack the Standard Media Group in 2006.
The Eagle Unit, whose operations were close to the Kwekwe unit, was created to deal with carjackings, kidnappings and robberies. The November Squad, now a pale shadow of its former self, was created to deal with carjackings and motor vehicle thefts. Its core functions have been handed over to the Anti-Motor Vehicle Theft Unit and the Flying Squad created to deal with violent robberies, carjackings and armed robberies.
The Special Crime Prevention Unit, the mother station of Kwekwe and Eagle, was created in the 1990s to provide a pool of detectives specialised in foiling carjacking, robberies, burglary and kidnappings. Its headquarters is at the old Nairobi Area offices near Kenyatta Hospital.
The Rhino Squad was put together over a decade ago to deal with Mungiki as well as rowdy touts at bus termini. Its mode of operations was similar Kwekwe’s.
The Flying Squad was built to mainly deal with cases of carjacking, vehicle theft and bank robberies. The Scorpion Squad is another small unit mainly of officers from Nairobi that patrol and survey the city centre.
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North Mp William Ruto and 27 Members of Parliament have told the west to keep off Kenya’s political affairs and Kenyans’ right to elect their preferred leaders. They claimed the ICC process was tailor made to block Kenyatta and Ruto from vying for the presidency next year thereby giving Odinga an easy ride to State House. They were speaking in Murang’a town and our senior political reporter Francis Gachuri has the details of this story.
Given that Saboti Member of Parliament Eugene Wamalwa appears to have firmly been politically baptised into the Ruto-Kenyatta camp that has waged an all out war against the Prime Minister, what is the significance of his presence in the Kibaki succession equation? Is he a potential presidential candidate of the new alliance that the group has promised to form? Alex Chamwada analyses the Eugene Wamalwa factor in the succession politics preceding the 2012 general election.
Kenya govt allows Kenyan Citizens to be used to fight Imperialist wars as if Using Kenyans in both 1st world war and 2nd World war b ore any fruits when after serving in Burma&in India Kenyan soldiers were only damped at Athi-River Camp and their Pension was Kabuti(trensh Coats) when their White British Kings Rifles were given free runches around Kenya the so called White -Highlands!
What conditions are these Kenyans given before being enlisted to go and serve Western Imperialists in Both Iraq and in Afghanistan?
There is a conspiracy (hidden agenda) to occupy Masai-lands hence Who can fight for Masai Rights in Kenya Nobody>
Rift Valley Police disrupts meeting against IDPs in Narok!! Police disrupts meeting against IDPs in Narok .
Monday, 28 March 2011 00:02 BY IRENE WAIRIMU . Police in Mau Narok disrupted a meeting called by Maasai elders at the weekend to discuss the planned resettlement of IDPs in the area. A contingent of more than 150 security officers descended on Tipis area where a meeting led by US-based Prof Meitamei Ole Dapash was being held.
The police said the meeting was called to deliberate on how to disrupt ongoing survey at the nearby 2,400-acre Rose farm where the government plans to resettle 915 IDP families. The Maasai elders had planned to later hold a demonstration against the plans.
They said all those displaced during the 2007 post-election violence should return to their original homes. Two people were injured during the fracas and are admitted at the Rift Valley General Hospital.
Some 15 people, amongst them Prof Dapash were arrested and are locked up at the Mau Narok police station awaiting to be charged in Nakuru today. Nakuru police boss Johnston Ipara said the 15 will be charged with incitement to violence.
Ipara further denied that police had injured the two men in hospital and instead accused the Dapash-led group of attacking the duo with rungus and machetes.He accused the elders of inciting the Maasai community to oppose government programmes.
Last week on Thursday, 25 youths were arrested after they invaded the farm and started removing beacons.The youths were charged on Friday.
Tension is high in the area due to the resettlement plans but Special Programmes minister Esther Murugi said they (plans) are on course and would be completed in the next two weeks.
While on a tour of Rongai in the outskirts of Nakuru, the minister reiterated that nothing will stop the programme. The Maasai community led by their political leaders has been against the resettlement of IDPs on what they term as their ‘ancestral land’. National Heritage minister William Ole Ntimama has been adamantly against the resettlement.
Last week, he accused Rift Valley PC Osman Warfa of high-handedness and called for his removal.
Watch this Video of Ruto Being interviewed by Citizen Tv about when is he Moving to ICC in Hague to answer Why shouldnt he be tetained becouse of the seriousness of the crime charges? this is not the same Ruto we used to know when adressing the Wananchi> http://www.youtube.com/user/kenyacitizentv
The ICC’s legitimacy problems: A white man’s court? Not in Kenya it seems!
There is, of course, the critique that the ICC is a white man’s court for Africans. And so far with the ICC being involved only in Africa – Uganda, DRC, Sudan and the Central African Republic, besides Kenya – that criticism seems valid. Notably, unlike any of these other situations, the allegations involving Kenya, while unfortunate only involve 1,100 deaths, 3,500 injured, 600,000 displaced, hundreds of cases of rape and sexual violence as well as over 100,000 properties destroyed in six of eight provinces. Contrast that with Sudan where over 300,000 deaths and 2.7 million have been displaced since fighting broke out in 2003 in the Darfur region. Clearly, the ICC has legitimacy problems to overcome – unless of course every case from Kenya on the lower end to Sudan on the upper side would attract the same response from the prosecutor. Thus, while the Kenya situation at the ICC may be its greatest validation to date as a court that gets involved to help prevent further or future atrocities, it is but only one case.
This is where we must remember the argument of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu. He argued that the unprecedented ICC indictment against Sudanese President Bashir has to be supported because it is on the side of the otherwise voiceless victims of the most egregious offences recognised under the ICC Statute. To fail to support the arrest warrant for Bashir, Tutu argued, was to turn a blind eye to the man who turned Sudan into a graveyard. Powerful people and powerful governments must be brought to account in the interests of meeting the demands of justice for those that have suffered at their behest. This is indeed the reason why more than any other continent, African countries are the leading ratifiers of the ICC Statute – of the 114 State Parties to the ICC Statute, 31 are African—more than half of Africa’s 52 states. This is not surprising given that atrocities like the Rwanda genocide of 1994 was fresh in the minds of many an African government when they actively negotiated and subsequently voluntarily decided to ratify the Statute.
To ensure that African States continue to remain committed to the ICC, Ocampo must never be seen to be biased, politicised or insensitive to legitimate criticisms of the ICC’s role in Africa. The ICC must not be seen to be doing the bidding of powerful Western states as this would cast the court as a modern continuation of Western forms of domination over Africa.
The cooperation of African states must be earned in a two-way street, and not in a one-way street. Kenya may be one of the few African countries that will help to consolidate that process of mutual gain by the ICC and an African country. After all, Kenya is only one of three African countries, besides South Africa and Senegal, that have passed implementing legislation of the ICC Statute.
While it was initially unclear whether the Kenyan Government would cooperate with Ocampo to fulfil the demands of justice for the victims in Kenya, both the President and the Prime Minister have eventually happily supported without reservation the planned prosecutions against six Kenyans.
They have facilitated ICC investigators to engage in their work under an agreement granting them privileges and immunities and the Judiciary has assigned a judge to take statements from Kenya’s security chiefs to assist the prosecutor in his investigations, among many other examples of co-operation.
This has been done without censuring those that are opposed to the ICC’s work in Kenya and in this respect, Kenya exemplifies one of the most robust instances that showcase both the potential uses of the power of the ICC and its limitations all at once. President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga seem to have concluded that the costs of failing to cooperate with the ICC are much higher than the gains Kenya will make by foregoing violence in 2012.
Clearly the many meetings Ocampo has had with Kibaki and Raila and a whole cross-section of Kenyans in the last few months shows that Kenya is working in a mutual relationship with the ICC rather than outside it as Sudan is doing. Clearly, it is not just Kenyans listening to Ocampo; he too has had to listen to the interests of Kenya.
If Ocampo successfully prosecutes those most responsible for violence in early 2008, he will therefore have helped to bring to an end the era of impunity in the country not single-handedly from the outside, but rather together with Kenyans. This, it seems, is not a blanket surrender of Kenya’s sovereignty to the ICC – it is a surrender of sovereignty in return for the possible prosecution of high ranking officials whom Kenya has been unable to prosecute on its own – including a member of the government who helped negotiate the Statute!
The broad public support for the ICC investigations and potential prosecutions shows even the public understands that Kenya’s ratification of the ICC Statute committed the Government to peaceful settlement of disputes and that it will not easily renege on this commitment particularly where the ICC was closely and credibly working with the Government rather than being seen to be imposing itself on Kenya.
Ultimately, there is perhaps no better example of a State complying with international law than the Kenyan Government’s commitment to cooperate with the ICC since credible domestic prosecutions are a near impossibility.
In short, weak domestic institutions are anchored or backed up by international institutions as an alternative. The only other possible explanation is that when Kenya ratified the Statute of the ICC, it did not believe that its own leading politicians would land before the court. Yet, the evolving scenario so far suggests that the intended prosecutions not only make up for the inability of Kenya to have its own credible ones, but will also likely help Kenya avoid future violence and to consolidate a durable peace.
Clearly, these are outcomes that cannot easily be achieved in the absence of treaties and it seems Kenya’s ratification of the ICC statute clearly foreswore Kenya to resort to the ICC in the event of the kind of post-election violence that followed the 2007 General Election.
Prof Gathii is Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship and Governor George E. Pataki Professor of International Commercial Law, Albany Law School, New York.
Kenyans linked to drug trade banned from UK Skip to content.Kenyans linked to drug trade banned from UK .
Friday, 25 March 2011 00:02 BY MAUREEN MUDI . REVELATION: British High Commissioner Rob Macaire with KPA MD Gichiri Ndua in Mombasa yesterday.
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The British government has banned a number of Kenyans from entering the country over drug trafficking claims. British High Commissioner Rob Macaire however said he could not divulge the details of those banned, since “it is a matter between us and the individuals”.Macaire said his government has now partnered with American and the Kenyan police to tackle drug trafficking in the country.
Without divulging details, the Macaire said they have a list of people barred from travelling to UK, which keeps on changing. “I don’t want to discuss about their names, or who they are, but we sure have them and keep on reviewing the same periodically in light of the information that comes to the UK’s attention,” he said.
Macaire was speaking at the Muslims Education Welfare Association while on a three-day tour to Mombasa. He said Britain’s partnership with the relevant authorities will ensure that the drugs problem is tackled once and for all. “We are looking at the imports, usage share and transit of the illegal drugs through Kenya and doing everything within our means to help,” Macaire said.
The official expressed concern that drug use poses a serious problem in Kenya, especially along the Coast, and his government does not take lightly any information and allegations, revolving around drugs.“Any evidence around the involvement of senior people that are implicated in the drugs trade really interests us and we handle it with utmost concern,” he said. Macaire said the UK is keen to assist Kenya in countering piracy, cyber crime and terrorism.
His statement comes months after the US government announced that it had a list of names of individuals banned from the country over drug trafficking.
Internal Security minister George Saitoti released a list of those being investigated over drug trafficking, including Kisauni MP Ali Hassan Joho, Juja MP William Kabogo, Kilome MP Harun Mwau, Makadara MP Gideon Mbuvi and Mombasa based businessman Ali Punjani.
Saitoti has however since told Parliament that so far, police had found no evidence linking any of these people to drug trafficking.
The Six named by Ocampo are some of those who are in drug businessand they are the leading drug-barons in Kenya!
Ocampo finalises witnessess evidence to content.Ocampo finalises witnessess evidence .
Friday, 25 March 2011 00:01 BY STAR REPORTER . VIOLENCE: Demonstrators in Kibera in January 2008.
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THE WITNESSES were taken to The Hague last week to confirm their evidence before the Ocampo Six appear before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber judges on April 7 and 8.
The witnesses were flown out of safe houses in East Africa this year and accommodated in secret locations across Europe where they live. They may have to wait for years before the cases come to full trial and they have to give evidence.
The evidence against the Ocampo Six is undergoing thorough authentication as ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo finalises his case.
The Pre-Trial Chamber judges went through the evidence before issuing their summonses against the Ocampo Six. Sources indicate that some witnesses then had to appear in person to confirm their statements.Ocampo will be relying on evidence that is both written, verbal, recorded on tape and video.
Eleven witnesses who were hiding in a neighbouring East African country were flown to Europe two weeks ago and three of them were taken direct to The Hague before they boarded their flights to new locations.
The Ocampo Six are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, former police chief Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, former ministers Henry Kosgey and William Ruto, and Kass FM broadcaster Joshua arap Sang. All six say they will travel to The Hague in April but Ruto claims Ocampo’s evidence is based on false witnesses and rumours.
Last week Ocampo demanded that Muthaura and Uhuru step aside from public office arguing that they may use their positions to interfere with the witnesses. Most of the witnesses are from Rift Valley and Central regions.
Eldoret South MP Peris Simam said, “We thought the ICC would carry out proper investigations into this issue but this did not happen and that is why we have been saying that these cases need to be deferred so that they are done locally after proper investigations.”
For their own safety, the witnesses are not likely to return to Kenya after the ICC cases are concluded. Powerful nations who are members of the UN Security Council are supporting the ICC protection mechanisms for the witnesses and their families.
The witnesses have requested not to return to Kenya for at least ten years after the ICC cases are concluded, according to informed sources.
Meanwhile, secret graves may account for the youth who went missing in the Rift Valley during the post-election violence. Hundreds of youth may have been pushed into manholes, wells and trenches where they were buried during the post-election violence yet police have never investigated how or where they went missing.
Kanu officials have now petitioned the government to release an official tally of the people killed during the violence as one way to prepare data for possible compensation of the victims killed, injured, those who lost property and the displaced.
Kanu Vice Chairman Gideon Moi has demanded compensation for the victims saying many youth were shot by the police. He said those who died from all communities must be assisted and IDPs from all communities must be resettled.
An estimated 1,300 Kenyans died during the chaos and Kanu grassroots leaders who attended a weekend prayer meeting for the youth killed at Tembelio in Eldoret East demanded that names of all those who died be made public.
Former Mt Elgon MP Joe Kimkung said the Kalenjin lost many more people during the violence than Kenyans realise.
Miguna is right that Uhuru, Kibaki’s chosen successor whom he want’s to impose on us, is a rich spoilt kid, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He has never been inside a crowded matatu (unlike Obama in ’85) or tarmacked for job like you and me. He has never walked down River Road or sat at the jobless corner outside Hilton with hunger pangs kicking causing the ribs to vibrate like so many Kenyans who are sat there right now. He can’t even speak proper fluent Kikuyu, just the matusis he has rehearsed overnight while knocking those cold Tuskers.. “Wambui rehe njohi!..”, you can almost imagine him banging the table as he orders more to be lined up. His Kikuyu is as good as Gideon Moi’s grasp of Kalenjin- he says Beringoh instead of Baringo! For the very first time in his life, he’s scared about going to jail if it will be proved he supported mass murder in 2008 committed by the ruthless Mungiki gangs. I hear Mama Ngina is worried sick because of the real predicaments his favourite son is facing. Poor Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, when the going gets tough, Kibaki will eventually betray you just like he has done to Martha Karua, Matere Keriri, Raila’s MOU, Stanley Murage, Mary Wambui, Chris Murungaru…etc etc. The day of reckoning is near. Maybe a bottle of Vodka in a dark room will console but for how long?
NOTE> Uhurus Mama Ngina has lost alot of weight and too Beth Mugo has been hararing and she too has been loosing weight knowing what fate awaits their son!
The Kwekwe Killing Squad>Execution-Platoon>
Death squads still at work inside police Skip to content.Death squads still at work inside police .
Saturday, 26 March 2011 00:01 BY TOM MBOYA . EXECUTED: Mourners at Mugoiri during the burial of two brothers allegedly killed by the squad.
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THE extrajudicial execution of a witness in a Makadara court case has demonstrated that death squads are still operational within the police despite government claims that units such as Kwekwe have been disbanded.
The squad members were reportedly responsible for the murder of teacher Kenneth Irungu Waituika whose body was found dumped in Oloitokitok two weeks ago.
Family members claimed that Waituika was grabbed in Muthurwa market while having lunch, bundled into a car and murdered five hours later.
Waituika had been pursuing an incident in which his cousins Peter Irungu and John Kamuri were killed in late December after they were handed over to Kayole police for refusing to pay an arbitrary Sh50 extra fare demanded by the conductor of a matatu they were travelling in from Muranga.The bullet-riddled bodies of the two brothers were later found by police at Gatongora in Ruiru.
After Irungu confronted the crew of the matatu in January, the police charged him with being a member of the proscribed Mungiki sect. He was released on bond.
Irungu disappeared shortly after he appeared in Makadara court on March 11 when the next hearing of the case was set for May 6. The 15-man hit squad continues operations but the only thing that has changed is its name, and the members used for each job, according to multiple police sources who have to remain nameless for security reasons. From Kwekwe, the squad has changed its name to Eagle, Sierra and others.
The squad officers are well known in both CID headquarters at Mazingira House and the headquarters of the police at Vigilance House where Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere sits.
They are mainly responsible for the extrajudicial killings condemned by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston who demanded that the squad be disbanded in 2009. Then Police Commissioner Maj-Gen Hussein Ali denied that any such units existed.
On the same day that Alston issued his report, human rights activists Oscar Kingara and Oulu GPO were shot dead on State House Avenue on March 5, 2009.
Oscar was eliminated because the squad believed he was holding Sh18 million in Mungiki funds. Oscar had vehemently been speaking out against extrajudicial killings.
Depending on the nature of the job, the officers are quickly assembled from various places before being sent out to do their duties, mainly in the Special Crime Prevention Unit.
Among the police rank and file, the rogue cops are referred to as “strongmen” because of the “bonuses” they earn and the power they exercise over some of their bosses who are unable to reign in their excesses.
Some senior officers either fear being eliminated themselves or have become tangled up in extortion rackets run by the team and fear exposure.
Multiple police sources corroborated reports that the squad members were responsible for the abduction of Mungiki leader Kimani Ruo after he was acquitted in court in 2007.
A Nation journalist photographed officers attempting to arrest Ruo as he left the court and briefly scared them off. Police have always denied any involvement in his disappearance.
Ruo then proceeded on foot to Aga Khan Walk in Nairobi where he was held, bundled into the boot of an unmarked car and whisked away.
He was reportedly detained for three days. He was so badly tortured that a local police boss refused to take him back into custody. The squad members then dismembered his body and dumped the parts in different places in Nairobi. Ruo’s widow has yet to get his body or be told what happened to her husband. She has filed a case at the High Court demanding that the police disclose his whereabouts since they arrested him.
On April 13, 2008, the squad “carjacked” Virginia Nyakio, the wife of Maina Njenga who was then leader of the Mungiki gangs. The squad stole nearly Sh5 million from her and drove her to an open field in Ngong. They forced her driver Njoroge Wagacha to watch as they raped her in turns before bludgeoning her to death with a stick. The bodies of the two were found by police in Gakoe Forest, Gatundu in Thika.
Sources say the police did this after getting reports that Nyakio, Kimani and Mungiki spokesman Gitau Njuguna had set up their own Lion Squad to counter Kwekwe. Njuguna was shot dead in broad daylight on Luthuli Avenue in downtown in Nairobi on November 5, 2009.
The squad is so feared within the police that the head of one police unit has had to acquire two armed guards who accompany him everywhere after he fingered one rogue cop found with stolen property from a murder victim.
The six officers caught on camera executing three men on Langata Road on January 21 this year are said to be among the “strongmen.” Internal Security minister George Saitoti ordered that the officers be interdicted and investigated but nothing has yet come to court.
The detectives, four from the Special Crime Prevention Unit and two from the Flying Squad, are currently suspended. The squad’s mode of killing changes from time to time to protect their identity. They can shoot suspects, kill them with machetes, or bludgeon them to death to make it look like “mob justice”.
When there are no jobs, the officers reportedly engage in extortion and some have become wealthy with investments in real estate. They can be hired by politicians and businessmen to “deal” with their problem at a cost of Sh100,000 to Sh1 million for a clean hit job.
When they are with their colleagues, they joke about life and death and how many suspects they have executed. Their colleagues fear for their lives if they become the whistleblowers.
Executive Director Ndungu Wainaina of the International Centre for Policy and Conflict yesterday said the special police units could even be a threat to national security. “These units are clandestine elimination squads. They are criminal units which are used by the state to do its work,” said Wainaina.
Wainaina said the squads have also been used to protect the high and mighty who commit all sorts of crimes such as drug traffickers. He said they are not accountable to any authority and operate with impunity.
Mutuma Ruteere, the Director for the Centre for Human Rights and Police Studies, said elite police units have over the time abused their power. Rutere said government should first acknowledge that the units are facing credibility crisis and decide how best to reconstitute them.
There have been at least five squads in Kenya. Some such as Kwekwe, Eagle and Special Unit retain the same officers but different commanders.
Alfa Romeo was set up in the 1990s to deal with armed robberies but has since been disbanded due to public outcry. Kanga Squad was set up over a decade ago to deal with serious crime and Mungiki but has since been disbanded. The Kanga squad was used to attack the Standard Media Group in 2006.
The Eagle Unit, whose operations were close to the Kwekwe unit, was created to deal with carjackings, kidnappings and robberies. The November Squad, now a pale shadow of its former self, was created to deal with carjackings and motor vehicle thefts. Its core functions have been handed over to the Anti-Motor Vehicle Theft Unit and the Flying Squad created to deal with violent robberies, carjackings and armed robberies.
The Special Crime Prevention Unit, the mother station of Kwekwe and Eagle, was created in the 1990s to provide a pool of detectives specialised in foiling carjacking, robberies, burglary and kidnappings. Its headquarters is at the old Nairobi Area offices near Kenyatta Hospital.
The Rhino Squad was put together over a decade ago to deal with Mungiki as well as rowdy touts at bus termini. Its mode of operations was similar Kwekwe’s.
The Flying Squad was built to mainly deal with cases of carjacking, vehicle theft and bank robberies. The Scorpion Squad is another small unit mainly of officers from Nairobi that patrol and survey the city centre.
Police Killing Police >The Kwekwe execution Platoon is Killing police witness who kn ows and have evidence of the Ocampo Six named>
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000032030&cid=4&
Shattered Diplomacy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiH7NKXJNsE
The very unruly primitive society where the rule of law has collapsed >a country of beasts>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xVVZThxchQ&feature=player_embedded
Uhuru & Ruto In Murang’a
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North Mp William Ruto and 27 Members of Parliament have told the west to keep off Kenya’s political affairs and Kenyans’ right to elect their preferred leaders. They claimed the ICC process was tailor made to block Kenyatta and Ruto from vying for the presidency next year thereby giving Odinga an easy ride to State House. They were speaking in Murang’a town and our senior political reporter Francis Gachuri has the details of this story.
http://www.youtube.com/user/kenyacitizentv
Given that Saboti Member of Parliament Eugene Wamalwa appears to have firmly been politically baptised into the Ruto-Kenyatta camp that has waged an all out war against the Prime Minister, what is the significance of his presence in the Kibaki succession equation? Is he a potential presidential candidate of the new alliance that the group has promised to form? Alex Chamwada analyses the Eugene Wamalwa factor in the succession politics preceding the 2012 general election.
Uhuru Hague ne kwa nikua>Uhuru telling Gema masses that Hague is not Railas Mother>
Kenya govt allows Kenyan Citizens to be used to fight Imperialist wars as if Using Kenyans in both 1st world war and 2nd World war b ore any fruits when after serving in Burma&in India Kenyan soldiers were only damped at Athi-River Camp and their Pension was Kabuti(trensh Coats) when their White British Kings Rifles were given free runches around Kenya the so called White -Highlands!
What conditions are these Kenyans given before being enlisted to go and serve Western Imperialists in Both Iraq and in Afghanistan?
There is a conspiracy (hidden agenda) to occupy Masai-lands hence Who can fight for Masai Rights in Kenya Nobody>
Rift Valley Police disrupts meeting against IDPs in Narok!! Police disrupts meeting against IDPs in Narok .
Monday, 28 March 2011 00:02 BY IRENE WAIRIMU . Police in Mau Narok disrupted a meeting called by Maasai elders at the weekend to discuss the planned resettlement of IDPs in the area. A contingent of more than 150 security officers descended on Tipis area where a meeting led by US-based Prof Meitamei Ole Dapash was being held.
The police said the meeting was called to deliberate on how to disrupt ongoing survey at the nearby 2,400-acre Rose farm where the government plans to resettle 915 IDP families. The Maasai elders had planned to later hold a demonstration against the plans.
They said all those displaced during the 2007 post-election violence should return to their original homes. Two people were injured during the fracas and are admitted at the Rift Valley General Hospital.
Some 15 people, amongst them Prof Dapash were arrested and are locked up at the Mau Narok police station awaiting to be charged in Nakuru today. Nakuru police boss Johnston Ipara said the 15 will be charged with incitement to violence.
Ipara further denied that police had injured the two men in hospital and instead accused the Dapash-led group of attacking the duo with rungus and machetes.He accused the elders of inciting the Maasai community to oppose government programmes.
Last week on Thursday, 25 youths were arrested after they invaded the farm and started removing beacons.The youths were charged on Friday.
Tension is high in the area due to the resettlement plans but Special Programmes minister Esther Murugi said they (plans) are on course and would be completed in the next two weeks.
While on a tour of Rongai in the outskirts of Nakuru, the minister reiterated that nothing will stop the programme. The Maasai community led by their political leaders has been against the resettlement of IDPs on what they term as their ‘ancestral land’. National Heritage minister William Ole Ntimama has been adamantly against the resettlement.
Last week, he accused Rift Valley PC Osman Warfa of high-handedness and called for his removal.
Watch this Video of Ruto Being interviewed by Citizen Tv about when is he Moving to ICC in Hague to answer Why shouldnt he be tetained becouse of the seriousness of the crime charges? this is not the same Ruto we used to know when adressing the Wananchi>
http://www.youtube.com/user/kenyacitizentv
Uhuru Kenyatta Central Mammoth Rally threatening Martha Karua And Peter Keneth and their follower
who have rejected Joining Chauvinism in Kenya politics dominated by Kikuyu PNU>
http://www.youtube.com/user/standardgroupkenya#p/u/1/9di-qH8Nnkc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rumjAZDUagY&feature=player_embedded
Its too late for Kangaroo tribunal court in Kenya >hence big-boss manipulation>
The ICC’s legitimacy problems: A white man’s court? Not in Kenya it seems!
There is, of course, the critique that the ICC is a white man’s court for Africans. And so far with the ICC being involved only in Africa – Uganda, DRC, Sudan and the Central African Republic, besides Kenya – that criticism seems valid. Notably, unlike any of these other situations, the allegations involving Kenya, while unfortunate only involve 1,100 deaths, 3,500 injured, 600,000 displaced, hundreds of cases of rape and sexual violence as well as over 100,000 properties destroyed in six of eight provinces. Contrast that with Sudan where over 300,000 deaths and 2.7 million have been displaced since fighting broke out in 2003 in the Darfur region. Clearly, the ICC has legitimacy problems to overcome – unless of course every case from Kenya on the lower end to Sudan on the upper side would attract the same response from the prosecutor. Thus, while the Kenya situation at the ICC may be its greatest validation to date as a court that gets involved to help prevent further or future atrocities, it is but only one case.
This is where we must remember the argument of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu. He argued that the unprecedented ICC indictment against Sudanese President Bashir has to be supported because it is on the side of the otherwise voiceless victims of the most egregious offences recognised under the ICC Statute. To fail to support the arrest warrant for Bashir, Tutu argued, was to turn a blind eye to the man who turned Sudan into a graveyard. Powerful people and powerful governments must be brought to account in the interests of meeting the demands of justice for those that have suffered at their behest. This is indeed the reason why more than any other continent, African countries are the leading ratifiers of the ICC Statute – of the 114 State Parties to the ICC Statute, 31 are African—more than half of Africa’s 52 states. This is not surprising given that atrocities like the Rwanda genocide of 1994 was fresh in the minds of many an African government when they actively negotiated and subsequently voluntarily decided to ratify the Statute.
To ensure that African States continue to remain committed to the ICC, Ocampo must never be seen to be biased, politicised or insensitive to legitimate criticisms of the ICC’s role in Africa. The ICC must not be seen to be doing the bidding of powerful Western states as this would cast the court as a modern continuation of Western forms of domination over Africa.
The cooperation of African states must be earned in a two-way street, and not in a one-way street. Kenya may be one of the few African countries that will help to consolidate that process of mutual gain by the ICC and an African country. After all, Kenya is only one of three African countries, besides South Africa and Senegal, that have passed implementing legislation of the ICC Statute.
While it was initially unclear whether the Kenyan Government would cooperate with Ocampo to fulfil the demands of justice for the victims in Kenya, both the President and the Prime Minister have eventually happily supported without reservation the planned prosecutions against six Kenyans.
They have facilitated ICC investigators to engage in their work under an agreement granting them privileges and immunities and the Judiciary has assigned a judge to take statements from Kenya’s security chiefs to assist the prosecutor in his investigations, among many other examples of co-operation.
This has been done without censuring those that are opposed to the ICC’s work in Kenya and in this respect, Kenya exemplifies one of the most robust instances that showcase both the potential uses of the power of the ICC and its limitations all at once. President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga seem to have concluded that the costs of failing to cooperate with the ICC are much higher than the gains Kenya will make by foregoing violence in 2012.
Clearly the many meetings Ocampo has had with Kibaki and Raila and a whole cross-section of Kenyans in the last few months shows that Kenya is working in a mutual relationship with the ICC rather than outside it as Sudan is doing. Clearly, it is not just Kenyans listening to Ocampo; he too has had to listen to the interests of Kenya.
If Ocampo successfully prosecutes those most responsible for violence in early 2008, he will therefore have helped to bring to an end the era of impunity in the country not single-handedly from the outside, but rather together with Kenyans. This, it seems, is not a blanket surrender of Kenya’s sovereignty to the ICC – it is a surrender of sovereignty in return for the possible prosecution of high ranking officials whom Kenya has been unable to prosecute on its own – including a member of the government who helped negotiate the Statute!
The broad public support for the ICC investigations and potential prosecutions shows even the public understands that Kenya’s ratification of the ICC Statute committed the Government to peaceful settlement of disputes and that it will not easily renege on this commitment particularly where the ICC was closely and credibly working with the Government rather than being seen to be imposing itself on Kenya.
Ultimately, there is perhaps no better example of a State complying with international law than the Kenyan Government’s commitment to cooperate with the ICC since credible domestic prosecutions are a near impossibility.
In short, weak domestic institutions are anchored or backed up by international institutions as an alternative. The only other possible explanation is that when Kenya ratified the Statute of the ICC, it did not believe that its own leading politicians would land before the court. Yet, the evolving scenario so far suggests that the intended prosecutions not only make up for the inability of Kenya to have its own credible ones, but will also likely help Kenya avoid future violence and to consolidate a durable peace.
Clearly, these are outcomes that cannot easily be achieved in the absence of treaties and it seems Kenya’s ratification of the ICC statute clearly foreswore Kenya to resort to the ICC in the event of the kind of post-election violence that followed the 2007 General Election.
Prof Gathii is Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship and Governor George E. Pataki Professor of International Commercial Law, Albany Law School, New York.
http://nairobilawmonthly.com/index/content.asp?contentId=126&isId=3&ar=1