The trial preparations of the four Kenyans facing charges at the International Criminal Court kicks off in earnest on June 12 when the accused and their lawyers are scheduled to gather at The Hague for a preparatory conference. A source familiar with the trial preparations told the Sunday Nation from The Hague that trial judges have notified the parties to attend the status conference during which the rules of engagement will be defined including procedural matters and sequence of proceedings.
The status conference lays ground for the trial proper whose date would depend on the issues raised and efficiency of the parties.
During the meeting, the parties would have their first interaction with judges Christine van den Wyngaert (Belgium), Kuniko Ozaki (Japan) and Chile Obeo-Osuji of Nigeria who will preside over the trials. (READ: Japanese elected lead judge in Kenya chaos cases)
The court’s decision is likely to dampen the spirits of President Kibaki who is engaged in a last ditch effort — both at home and abroad — to stop the proceedings at The Hague-based court.
It comes barely two weeks after he indicated to Parliament the government’s determination to set up a local court to try those suspected to have sponsored the 2008/9 violence.
Days later, the President secured a resolution by the East Africa Community for the expansion of the jurisdiction of the East Africa Court of Justice to handle the Kenyan cases.
Similar efforts are underway at a gathering of legal experts from the African Union working on a similar resolution. (READ: AU moves to take over Hague cases)
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The lawyers meeting in Addis Ababa are exploring ways of implementing a January resolution of AU leaders seeking to expand the scope of the Africa Court of Justice to enable it to take over ICC cases involving African leaders — Sudan President Omar al-Bashir and Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, former Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura and radio journalist Joshua Sang, who were on January 23 committed to trial for crimes against humanity committed during the violence.
During the conference, judges will set a timetable for the start of trials and disclosure of witnesses and evidence between the prosecutor and defence. The accused have an option of attending the conference in person.
Mr Karim Khan, who is leading Mr Muthaura’s defence team, on Saturday confirmed the summons and said he would attend the conference with members of his team.
However, he was no-committal on whether his client will be present. “It is a usual court occurrence during which issues are agreed upon relating to evidence, procedure and sequence of the proceedings. Attendance of the accused at status conferences is optional,” he said in a phone interview.
The Muthaura defence includes Mr Ken Ogeto of the Kenyan Bar, Malaysian Shyamala Alagendra and Mr Essal Faal from The Gambia while Mr Kenyatta is represented by British lawyers Steven Kay and Gillian Higgins.
A lawyer who spoke under the cover of anonymity said by the decision, the ICC had “called the government’s bluff”. “The ICC is testing the government and suspects’ commitment to co-operate with the court,” he said.
Explaining the significance of the conference in a recent conversation, ICC spokesman Fadil Abdallah said it is largely a house keeping affair.
“The parties will present their observations to the chamber on their preparedness, which will review them and establish a timetable for trials proper,” he said.
Commenting on Saturday, Senior Counsel Paul Muite advised Mr Ruto and Mr Uhuru to review their defence strategy and composition of their lawyers.
“They should have faith in Kenyan lawyers because they understand the history and context of the case,” he said citing the success of Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey and Maj (Gen) Hussein Ali’s during the confirmation of cases hearings.
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This is greAT News since it will cool Uhuru’s useless prezzo ambitions. Uhuru and Ruto should be locked up during their next trip at The Hague
Uhuru Kenyatta Political Double Tragedy
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential ambitions suffered double tragedy following the death of environment minister John Michuki and former defense minister Njenga Karume. The two were deeply involved in Uhuru’s presidential campaign strategy projecting him as the Kikuyu ethnic group flag bearer.
Most pronounced on the matter was Michuki, who in 2010 called on the Kikuyu community to rally behind Uhuru in readiness for the 2012 presidential race to take over from President Mwai Kibaki. The minister implored members of the Kikuyu tribe, wherever they are, to support Uhuru as their leader and warned those in the community aspiring for the presidency that they would be publicly shamed politically if they did not toe the line.
In Uhuru’s own Kiambu County, Karume was Kenyatta family’s staunchest supporter. He and Uhuru’s mother Mama Ngina Kenyatta and his uncle Ngengi Muigai, founded the Kenya Democratic Party (DP) in 1992 to purposely block Jaramogi Oginga Odinga from State House tenancy when it became obvious that the Forum for Restoration of Democracy (Ford), would rout the then ruling Kanu from power. Initially they asked former foreign minister Munyua Waiyaki to head DP but Waiyaki convinced Kibaki to take the leadership. Thereafter Njenga became the chief DP bank roller spending millions of his own money.
In 2002, Karume dumped Kibaki and DP to join and support Uhuru’s presidential race on Kanu ticket against Kibaki. He even won back his Kiambaa seat, which he had lost to a Ford Asili candidate in 1997. His return to Kanu to support Uhuru reminded many of his post-independence affinity to Uhuru’s father Jomo Kenyatta, who facilitated the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru Association (Gema) acquisition of huge tracts of former colonial settlers farms in the Rift Valley. Indeed, Kenyatta transformed Karume from a charcoal burner to a multi-millionaire.
It came as no surprise in 2008 that Uhuru and Karume teamed up to mobilize and finance reprisal and counter attacks against post election perpetrators, who were targeting the Kikuyu settlers and their businesses in the Rift Valley, using Mungiki. The two were also hefty beneficiaries of internally displaced persons (IDPs), resettlement program that saw them cash in billions of shillings after selling off some of their Rift Valley farms at what insiders describe as “hugely inflated prices”.
Uhuru is no ordinary politician. He was literally born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Michuki’s move appears to have been a scheme intended to weed out the “low breed” Kikuyu presidential aspirants come 2012. To Kenyatta era beneficiaries, he is the right pedigree that can protect those who inherited and continue to enjoy the fruits of the British colonial government and exploit the Kenyan natural resources along with the masses.
Michuki could not trust power in the hands of people like internal security minister George Saitoti, Narc-Kenya chair Martha Karua or planning assistant minister Peter Kenneth. Martha was quick to dismiss Michuki as a man who was still living in the dark days of Kanu dictatorship under Uhuru’s father Kenyatta and former dictator Daniel arap Moi. Kenneth said Kenya was under a new constitutional and political dispensation with no room for hand picking political leaders. Cynically, he added Kenyans, “however senile”, were free to express their opinions.
Martha reminded Kenyans that Uhuru was the unsuccessful Nyayo project in 2002 and warned that if he was anybody’s project this time round, Kenyans “will have the last laugh”. Her views were shared by several other politicians from Central Kenya. Some thought that Michuki belonged to a fast dying political dinosaur species of despots. But some Kikuyu chauvinists in parliament, including Naivasha MP John Mututho and the then Kamukunji’s Simon Mbugua, supported Michuki. Mbugua was subsequently shown the door out of Parliament in a petion late 2011. Mututho’s position was understandable being the only Kanu MP in the Rift Valley.
Even PNU ministers were divided over Michuki’s anointment of Uhuru. Energy minister and then PNU secretary general Kiraitu Murungi said the people of Gikuyu, Embu and Meru were not consulted and, in any case, they would not elect someone because he is one of them or a neighbour but voters will be interested in a person’s performance history. Nairobi metropolitan development minister Njeru Githae, said whereas it may be important for Kikuyu community to have a spokesman, it did not mean he was their presidential candidate. Githae was of the view that the fragmented political leadership within central Kenya would be a recipe for defeat by Raila Odinga’s ODM.
Uhuru considers billionaire Saitoti his greatest threat for the populous central Kenya vote in the presidential race. The Party of National Unity (PNU) insiders say Uhuru is determined to shunt Saitoti out of the race by using Kanu loyalists to derail Saitoti. The departure of Energy Minister Murungi as PNU secretary general and formation of the Alliance Party of Kenya is seen as an elaborate plot to shunt Saitoti and derail Raila in favour of Uhuru. The same spirit is driving the so-called G7 group comprising Uhuru, William Ruto, Eugene Wamalwa all of whom want the presidency.
Unfortunately for Saitoti, Uhuru has the resources. He inherited an endowment of multi-billion-shillings wealth in cash and assets, that transverse the Coast, Central and Rift Valley provinces, from his father and Kenya’s first president Kenyatta. The Kenyatta family continues to harvest billions of shillings in minerals and gemstones, sold in French jewelry stores, after exploitation from Taita Taveta districts, whose land is largely owned by the family at the expense of indigenous populations living there as squatters.
They say leopards cannot change their spots and the young Kenyatta is what the Swahili would call mtoto wa nyoka ni nyoka. He owes his presidential ambitions to his family tree and the key beneficiaries of his father’s regime excessive exploits – including Moi. Young as he may have been when his father started the Gatundu self-help hospital, he has done nothing to get the government, if not by his own benevolence, develop the dilapidated health centre into a modern medical facility. Gatundu South constituency is among the leaders in jigger population among school age children and poverty levels in the country. Jigger infestation is a direct result of poverty and lack of clean water supply – nothing else!
Ichaweri, Uhuru’s rural homestead in Gatundu, is an island of plenty in the midst of barren poverty. Local neighbours were forced to sell their farms to create room for expansionist Kenyatta. The Ichaweri farm appears as if it was transplanted from colonial master’s Devonshire in the United Kingdom. Other Kenyatta family farms within Central Province run into thousands of acres in area, while those in the Rift Valley and Coast Provinces sit on tens of square kilometers.
Uhuru’s family and personal wealth runs into billions upon billions of shillings – may be a couple of trillions. He will never want and has never known the colour or shape of poverty except in photographs when Kenya appeals for famine relief. If multi-billionaire Uhuru can’t fight jiggers and poverty or initiate clean water supply, even through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), in a small constituency of Gatundu South, what can he do for 40 million Kenyans – more than 65 per cent of them living in poverty, hunger and disease among other social maladies? Uhuru does not represent the face of the transformation that Kenyans and their country need. Besides, Kenyans should never encourage dynasties to avoid future blood shed.
Uhuru put up a spirited presidential campaign machine in 2002, as former president Moi’s project, but lost to President Kibaki, who led the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (Narc) to a resounding victory over Kanu. Although he dipped his hands on the immense family riches, Uhuru did not make any noticeable dent on its deep-seated treasure trove. Under normal circumstances he would be expected to use the extensive Kanu national network as party chairman. However, his command of the party has been diminishing since mid-2007 when Kanu decided not to sponsor a presidential candidate but instead supported Kibaki for a second term.
The deputy premier has been doing battle with the Rift Valley politicians anxious to lay their hands on the party. Former dictator Moi’s son Gideon has been engineering a palace coup without success. Gideon has been scheming to run away with Kanu as a Rift Valley (read Kalenjin) party – a move fully supported by his father.
However, Uhuru appears to have a firm grip on the national delegates, who endorsed him as chairman last time they met. But, Kanu saw the emergence of a splinter group led by former cabinet minister Nicholas Kipyatoo Biwott who has since bought his own political party.
Uhuru’s strongest political base is his home district of greater Kiambu. When Moi hand-picked him as the presidential candidate, most Kiambu politicians stood by him including long time then DP patron Karume. Many of them now want him to join the proposed Alliance Party of Kenya. They say Uhuru cannot win as the Kanu head.
With the demise of Michuki and Karume, Uhuru’s presidential bid has suffered a major blow. The International Criminal Court (ICC) trial, if it proceeds as many expect, will be the last nail into the coffin of his presidential hopes. Constitutional affairs and national coherence minister Mutula Kilonzo says Uhuru’s appeal before the ICC is based on the “jurisdiction of a dead duck in a dirty pond”.
The proponents of Kiraitu’s proposed Alliance think if they front a single presidential candidate, it would beat ODM, in Raila’s favourite sports language football, 9-0. To them victory would only come if PNU chairman George Saitoti, ODM-Kenya-turned-Wiper Democratic Movement, chairman Kalonzo Musyoka, Kanu Chairman Uhuru, and Narc-Kenya chairman Martha Karua, (plus Wamalwa of New FORD-Kenya perhaps) agree on a single candidate.
Otherwise with a divided PNU fraternity, victory in 2012 will most likely go to ODM, which is also going through tribulations especially in the Rift Valley and Western provinces. Saitoti has declared his name will be on the ballot come what may but has yet to launch his campaign officially. He also has a major task of rebranding himself and the PNU.
The People of Kenya Should never ever forget how William Rutto burned (grilled )Kikuyu children and Mothers inside The Eldoret Church And How Uhuru Kenyatta Killed a Luo Woman in naivasha by cutting her throat while her child (sitting in a chair) was looking (watching) Mungiki thugs Paid by Uhuru how they murdered her poor mother and the burning of a whole family in their living Quarters,And how Uhuru hired thugs butchered innocent Luos/Luhyas and Kalegin youth by removing them from the inside of Matatus(mummywagons) in Limuru/Naivasha Highway The blood of these innocent Kenyans is still crying to their GOD and God has heard their cries.Let these murderes go to Hague and pay for their Crimes.
Long Live Justice ! Long Live Moreno Ocampo! Long Live Da Haague!
I dont think Uhuru Kanyatta accepting going for 80 years in (foreign)Prison .
I can see Uhburu Joining his blood brother (fugitive) Felix Kabuga who is hiding in Kenya protected by both Daniel Arap Moi and Emillio Mwai Kibaki another Hague Subject After retiring! So Guys we should change Uhuru Kanyatta to Felix Cain Uhuru Kenyatta jr!
This is a very sad state of affairs, were Kenyans killed or NOT? Three times Parliament tried to establish a local tribunal but those who are now fighting to have the cases referred back home are the same ones who insisted on the Hague process, what has changed??. The Hague needs to move with speed and execute their mandate. If those charged want to come back and continue killing – let them go ahead and do so but they should realize that they will not kill all Kenyans, Kenyans are not stupid as they want to make them believe. it…Has Kibaki ever jailed any economic criminals leave about jailing Uhuru the son of a former Kenya President. The ICC and the international community knows this very wellthat President Kibaki is sabotaging the ICC through AU (Aping Unity)that is anti-west their democracy and civilization.
Uhuru/Muthaura /Ruto are the untouchables in Kenya
The King of Cocaine drugs in Kenya MP MWAU KILLED A WHITE MAN BY KNOCKING HIM WITH HIS CAR AND NOTHING HAPPENED THE KENYA MAFIA POLICE JUST SALUTED HIM AND WALKED AWAY >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A42hCZVnGhw&feature=player_embedded
The Devil Uhuru. This parliament, they unanimously agreed for the hague. Now they are doing everything to have the cases back in kenya. Who did they expect to be taken to the Hague in the first place? Let the ICC, and only ICC, bring justice to the post election violence victims, and end this culture of impunity once and for all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4vRA1E1gsQ&feature=relmfu Uhuru Killing This mans dogs as a warning for suppoerting Uhuru Opponent in Kiambu Constituency.
The international criminal court’s many flaws can’t simply be glossed over
Toby Cadman
Thursday 28 June 2012
Serge Brammertz recently wrote about the international criminal court, which now has a new chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda (Now for Kony and Bashir, 14 June). “As Bensouda begins her term, we should reaffirm our support for the court’s work,” he said. But the ICC has many flaws which Brammertz simply glossed over.
Mainly funded by European nations, the ICC has cost over $1bn to deliver a single verdict – against Thomas Lubanga, a Congolese warlord – in nine years. Brammertz accepts that “complaints are frequently levelled at the ICC for focusing too much on African cases” and, indeed, the fact that only black Africans have been brought before this European-funded court has opened it to accusations of racism. Yet it is primarily the ICC’s reliance on evidence-gathering and witness sourcing by local NGOs and incumbent politicians that has put its credibility at stake. Without investigating directly, the ICC has had to adopt a position of willful blindness when it comes to the crimes of those political leaders with whom it has had to curry favour in order arrest those individuals it seeks to try.
This means, time and again, the cases before the court have directly benefited certain African political leaders against their opponents. In Democratic Republic of the Congo this has benefited Joseph Kabila against Jean-Pierre Bemba; in Kenya the prime minister, Raila Odinga, has seized the initiative over the deputy prime minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, his likely opponent in the forthcoming presidential elections. In the eyes of many African commentators this is clear evidence the ICC is merely a European-sponsored service delivering “victors’ justice”, enabling incumbent African leaders to remove political opponents. This cannot continue if the court is to remain credible.
So what is to be done? While there might be good reason to expect that Bensouda will attempt to assert some independence from her sponsors, she might achieve this best through using the start of her term to review all cases passed on by her predecessor, Luis Moreno Ocampo.
In the Kenyatta case this means that far more robust evidence must be gathered on the ground by the ICC itself. And if there is more evidence – or indeed evidence against others – then the case should be heard in Africa, where internationally sponsored tribunals such as the international tribunal for Rwanda have successfully fused international legal expertise with appreciation for African dignity.
This week, the ICC held its status conference to determine the trial dates for the Kenyan ‘Ocampo Four.’ The outgoing Chief Prosecutor admitted that the cases may be heard after next years elections. It is hoped that this stems from a desire for the trials not to unsettle next years vote, especially after the welcome attempts at reconciliation that have taken place within Kenya. However, you do not have to be a legal expert to acknowledge that Mr Ocampo may well have realised that going to trial on the current evidence would be madness. It remains to be seen if he is protecting peace in Kenya or simply protecting what little is left of his reputation.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said “Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both”. Sadly, the way the ICC is operating means it is delivering one-sided justice based too often on politically motivated evidence, and flying in the face of countries such as Kenya who are willing to conduct cases themselves. Without trials based on robust and unbiased evidence there can be no justice. If the ICC’s practices continue it will be time for the financial sponsors of the court to question its very existence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/28/international-criminal-courts-flaws-overlooked?CMP=twt_gu
The biggest Mistake Westerners has done wrong is to appoint Blacks as head of the Icc!
The whole world will loose faith and confindence when Negroes are leading the ICC !