Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto formed a political coalition to protect themselves from trials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) which had charged them with serious crimes against humanity, for allegedly participating in the post-election violence (PEV) in 2007-08. The two have no record of fighting for anything to liberate Kenyans. For instance, William Ruto opposed the Constitutional referendum in 2010, yet in 2013, he swore to defend it as Deputy President. Uhuru too, has already used his position as President to abuse sections of the new Constitution, in attempts to revive the imperial presidency of his father’s reign of terror.
So far, Uhuru and Ruto’s Jubilee Government is associated with corruption, wastage of public funds, tribalism, nepotism, cronyism and lack of patriotism. Uhuru’s massive wealth is as a result of his parents’ alleged looting of Government coffers, including illegal poaching and selling of elephant tusks by his mother, Mama Ngina. Ruto began as a small-time poultry farmer, yet he is now a billionaire whose wealth-building is linked to massive financial scandals as a politician. Where were Uhuru and Ruto during the clamor for multiparty politics in the early 1990s? Uhuru joined four young Kenyans to demand for more political space during Dictator Moi’s brutal presidency, and supported then-presidential candidate Kenneth Matiba, in 1992. Nonetheless, he was a member of Moi’s ruling party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU), during his first attempt to become a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1997.
Ruto on the other hand, was Organizing Secretary of the dreaded Youth for KANU ’92 (YK92), which was a group formed to support Moi in the 1992 presidential election. According to online information, YK92 “was widely accused of being complicit in ethnic violence directed at Kikuyu residents in southern and central parts of Rift Valley Province up to and after that elections under the guise of majimbo.” Uhuru and Ruto’s political background is well-cemented in the ideals of Kenya’s former ruling party, KANU, which was essentially dictatorial and corrupt, under the leadership of Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi.
The recent revelation by Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria that he was part of a team which ‘fixed’ William Ruto at the ICC, was earth-shattering and has revived the old Kikuyu-Kalenjin political distrust, which got many Kikuyus evicted and killed by Moi’s brutal regime towards the presidential elections in 1992 and 1997. The PEV of 2007-08 was worse and though other non-Kalenjins were also victimized, it is the Kikuyu community (mostly in Kalenjin’s Rift Valley) that lost the highest number of lives.
ICC witness statements
Uhuru and Ruto did not spend time to reconcile the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities after the PEV. Instead, Ruto reportedly spent millions of Kenya Shillings buying off most of the former Kalenjin ministers and politicians away from Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Party (ODM). Those who did not follow him to his United Republican Party (URP) lost their parliamentary seats in the 2013 General Election.
Ruto’s case at the ICC has not changed and still reads: “Mr Ruto is accused of being criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator pursuant to article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute for the crimes against humanity of: murder (article 7(l)(a)); deportation or forcible transfer of population (article 7(l)(d)); and persecution (article 7(l)(h)).” In response to the claims of Moses Kuria – the loose cannon of Jubilee, ODM drafted a 10-point statement indicating that: “We are here to restate the position we took this week that President Uhuru Kenyatta was fully aware of and funded the procuring of witnesses against his Deputy William Ruto. We also restate that contrary to what Jubilee is saying, Uhuru Kenyatta has done nothing to make sure the case facing Ruto, ends in Ruto’s favour.”
Pages 124-125 in the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber document for Ruto’s case filed on January 23, 2012 states: “339: In particular, Witness 8 recollected that Mr. Ruto said at the first planning meeting that the agenda was “to plan the war” and sensitize people for the plan. According to the same witness, in a meeting that took place on 15 April 2007 as well as in two subsequent meetings, Mr. Ruto and other members of the organisation said that they would “expel” or “evict” the Kikuyu, Kamba, and Kisii and Mr. Ruto took an oath “to kill [these] tribes mercilessly”. The witness describes Mr. Ruto’s commitment to eradicate the PNU supporters at any cost during an ODM rally in Kipkarren on 6 December 2007. Based on Witness 8’s testimony, Mr. Ruto said that “in case Kibaki wins the election the youths should barricade the streets, destroy the property and kill the Kikuyus”. The witness also testified that in a meeting held at Mr. Ruto’s house on 14 December 2007, Mr. Ruto made the crowd promise to kill the Kikuyu, Kamba, and Kisii.
340: This information is supported by the testimony of Witness 2 who quotes Mr. Ruto during a ceremony saying that “Kikuyu must be evicted from the Rift Valley”. The witness said that Mr. Ruto made a statement in the tribal language, which means “[l]et us remove the Kikuyu from our land, the Rift Valley”. In the witness’ comprehension, Mr. Ruto meant to get them out by using force which leads to death, destroying their houses “by arson to prevent them from coming back”.”
Kikuyu and Kalenjin leaders in Jubilee are at pains to counter ODM’s and particularly Raila’s statements which detail how Uhuru Kenyatta fixed Ruto. They are also aware that the wider Kalenjin community knows Ruto was fixed by Kikuyus who worked in Kibaki’s government and one of them, Nancy Gitau, is currently Uhuru’s chief advisor. Therefore, who fixed who and for what reason should not be Jubilee’s worry, since no matter how many prayer rallies and propaganda they spin against Raila Odinga, ICC witness testimonies against Ruto are so damning, only his defence team shall hopefully save him from being jailed in The Hague.
Jared Odero
About the Author
Ruto was used worse than a condom by gema mafia.
All this noise coming out of ‘prayer’ rallies will not influence ICC case
By MACHARIA GAITHO
Our morally and mentally bankrupt politicians can shout themselves hoarse from all the rooftops they can find.
The Jubilee hordes can breathe fire and brimstone from the political prayer crusades against Deputy President William Ruto’s trial at the International Criminal Court.
They can burp with self-delusion that they have finally made the case that the Deputy President was “fixed” and, therefore, has no case to answer.
From the other side of the political divide, the equally feckless types from the Cord coalition can purr with satisfaction that the “confessions” of Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria about his role in buying witnesses against Mr Ruto are backfiring.
Instead of pinning the blame on opposition chief Raila Odinga, they are raising new questions about the role that President Kenyatta played in suborning witnesses to nail his deputy.
INFANTILE EXCHANGES
This “fixing” issue is opening cracks in the Jubilee coalition that Cord is only too happy to exploit, but the accusations and counter-accusations are bringing about infantile political exchanges that obscure the real issue.
One is that the question of whether Mr Ruto was sent to trial on false evidence will not be determined at noisy political rallies.
All those politicians out to catch the Deputy President’s eye with the loudest histrionics against the ICC or Mr Odinga would be best advised to shut up and take their testimony to The Hague.
Mr Ruto’s case will be determined, not on the decibels coming out of those rallies, but by the defence his competent team of lawyers put up in court.
However, rival offers by characters as diverse as Mr Odinga and Mr Kuria to travel to The Hague and testify in Mr Ruto’s defence amount to no more than cheap political theatrics that will never be fulfilled.
The noise coming out of political attack dogs and all manner of manoeuvres in Parliament, the African Union, the United Nations, and elsewhere amount to nothing and will not affect the outcome of the trial facing Mr Ruto and his co-accused, radio presenter Joshua Sang.
Neither the Jubilee-Cord rivalry nor ethnic fissures within the governing Kenyatta-Ruto coalition matter a bit in the courtroom.
THE IMPORTANT VERDICT
Even that diversionary scheme where Parliament will purport to interrogate and revise the findings of the Commission of Inquiry in Post-Election Violence, the Justice Waki Report, will amount to nothing more than self-flagellation.
The ultimate decision will be made on the evidence presented by the prosecution and the robustness of the defence’s case.
What puzzles me right now is that after exuding so much confidence earlier on, Mr Ruto’s hired guns seem to be in panic mode.
I have always maintained that the prosecution case against Mr Ruto was built on quicksand and was bound to collapse, just as the cases against Mr Kenyatta, Mr Francis Muthaura, Major General Hussein Ali, and Mr Henry Kosgey did.
Nothing has happened to change my mind, not even the controversial decision to admit recanted prosecution testimony.
It is also apparent that from the way the Kenya cases were handled, ICC itself is on trial and must be subjected to serious scrutiny in the way its conducts it affairs and the competence, or lack thereof, of its investigators, prosecutors, and judges.
That does not, however, justify the application of extra-judicial political pressure from outside the courtroom.
THE WORST SORT OF IMPUNITY
When Mr Ruto willingly and enthusiastically volunteered to be tried by the ICC rather than face a local tribunal or truth and reconciliation mechanism, he left himself to the mercy of the court and cannot wiggle out now.
If Mr Ruto is confident of his innocence, he should have no reason to fear because no court in the world would convict on such a flimsy case.
That his supporters seem mortally afraid of the case proceeding to its logical conclusion might, therefore, be quite telling.
The worst thing now is the peddling of the narrative that the conviction of Mr Ruto would undo all the peace and reconciliation efforts in the Rift Valley and lead to recurrence of the ethnic-political clashes that habitually rock the region with every electoral cycle.
That is a crass piece of blackmail that cannot be allowed to stand.
A court being forced to make a decision on the threat that violence could be unleashed is the worst sort of impunity.
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/All-this-noise-will-not-influence-ICC-case/-/440808/2910648/-/11imvhiz/-/index.html
Full list of 20 bank accounts where Anne Waiguru stashed sh791 million she stole from
Tuesday October 13, 2015 –
Independent investigations by the CID have established that the sh 791 million which was stolen from the National Youth Service (NYS) under the watch of Devolution Cabinet Secretary, Anne Waiguru, was stashed in 20 different bank accounts here in Kenya.
Investigating officers led by Corporal Sautet Jeremiah Matipei, established that the NYS money was first sent to account number 065000007849 held in the name of Form Homes Builders at Family Bank and later transferred to the different accounts to cover the trail as part of money laundering scheme.
Here is the full list of accounts where the NYS money was hidden;-
Bank name Bank
1. Form Homes Builders -Family Bank
2. Anthony Gethi Kihara-Barclays
3. John Kenneth Mwangi-Equity
4. Glinnis Kigera and Company Advocates-Equity
5. Joyce Makena Murithi –Equity
6. Betty Njoki Mureithi-Equity
7. Monica Gathoni Ndungu-Standard Chartered
8. Wainaina Ireri and Company Advocates-Commercial Bank of Africa
9. Petnah Chemicals Limited-KCB
10. John Kago Ndungu-KCB
11. Mape Building and General Engineering-KCB
12. LG Kimani and Company Advocates-KCB
13. Jennefer Muthoni Kinoti-KCB
14. Azipharm Limited –Chase Bank
15. Waweru Kihara and Company Advocates-Chase Bank
16. Brownfield Development Limited-Diamond Trust Bank
17. Ogola and Company Advocates-K-Rep
18. Betty Njoki Mureithi-Paramount Bank
19. MM Gitonga Advocates-Prime Bank
20. Sam Mwadime-Family Bank
Uhuru’ errand boy Kuria has confessed that PNU/ Kiambu KANU fixed Ruto.
By publicly confessing and bragging that PNU/UHURU directly participated in fixing Deputy President William Ruto to be prosecuted at the ICC (Hague), Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria is as guilty as a thug who raped your wife or daughter and storms your homestead to tell you and taunt you about it.
With their own mouths Mr. Kuria/ TNA have toured Rift Valley and loudly and repeatedly told anxious, ICC weary Kalenjins: “Yes we the TNA/PNU fixed your son William Ruto! Mta Do?”
But in Kuria’s case, the guilt must be shared with his Kalenjin “political tour guides” taking him around Kalenjin land to spread this demonic confession; namely: senators Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo Marakwet) and Charles Keter (Kericho). How dare they cheer on (celebrate) the bragging of one who raped your mother? Theirs is not even guilt: it is an automatic curse!
Which provocation is worse than what Moses Kuria/TNA is indulging in? It is instructive that this “rogue MP” was present when Kalenjin MPs who have been misled by Murkomen and Keter to attend anti-ICC prayer rallies in Rift Valley declared that the ICC case bedeviling DP Ruto and Journalist Joshua Arap Sang is equal to the entire Kalenjin Community put on trial. It directly means that Moses Kuria /PNU procured false witnesses to cook up evidence to frame and FIX the entire Kalenjin Nation on behalf of his masters. Now they are using Moses Kuria’s confession as diversionary tactics on what is to happen soon.
The entire Kalenjin Nation is shocked! We do not understand why the DPP (Keriako Tobiko) and ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda are waiting for to arrest him and charge him in court accordingly. And if TNA was genuine in the partnership with the Kalenjin Nation, they should have expelled him from the party and kick him out of Parliament for this heinous crime. Polarizing the Country instead of healing and reconciliation is by itself lack of visionary leadership.
Many Kalenjin’s would be expecting William Ruto to lead his URP troops to quit Jubilee “mara moja” for this terrible betrayal, following Moses Kuria’s outbursts. But we know that being consumed by preparations for his defense at the ICC (Hague) he is relying on advice from Murkomen and Charles Keter who have been compromised and are misleading him to stay in Jubilee. The same two senators are responsible for misleading Kalenjin MPs to keep quiet in the face of very serious provocation and extreme political abuse! The Kalenjin Nation are at cross road all its elected leaders are minding there stomachs.
With DP Ruto bogged down by preparations for his ICC defense, his appointed prefects in Kalenjin politics: Murkomen and Charles Keter appear blinded by loads of cash from Moses Kuria and his masters to herd Kalenjin MPs into silence and inertia. This is causing unease and anger at the grassroots, hence the widespread grumbling across Rift valley. The people are now like sheep without a shepherd.
The die is cast,.I will refer you to the leaked out conversation about a meeting held in Karen and attended by Ruto and about 500 Kalenjin professionals. Ruto is quoted as saying he cannot work with Raila, neither will they support Uhuru in 2017. This is the reality that you are blind to or trying to assume that it was a dream.
Ruto blocks Nyachae, Karangi cabinet jobs
Weekly Citizen
Citizen Team
From afar, it might look like the most harmonious of political friendships, but from close, there is a broad pointer to discordance between Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto.
This, to a scope that Ruto blocked the appointment of former Chief of General Staff Julius Karangi, Constitutional Implementation Commission head Charles Nyachae, Kenyatta University vice-chancellor Olive Mugenda and Kilifi North MP Gideon Mungaro to the cabinet.
Sources divulged that Ruto had rejected a cabinet shuffle list Uhuru had presented for immediate adoption and release at a planned press conference at State House. It is being whispered within the corridors of power that Uhuru is in the process of increasing the CS slots to 22 as he prepares for an earthshaking shuffle of his cabinet.
Going by the list, others who would have landed cabinet slots in a major reorganisation of the deck are URP’s Sally Kosgei and Julius Kones. MP Dan Kazungu’s name also features with word the DP is also not comfortable with him to replace Kazungu Kambi in the Labour docket from where Kambi was suspended for misuse of office and other corruption charges.
The DP is also said to have rejected Karangi on grounds that he is suspected to have played a role in fixing him in the ICC. Ruto allies now say that if the National Intelligence Services director general Michael Gichangi was part of the team that gave crucial information on Ruto which both Justice Waki and ICC investigators relied on, it is highly unlikely that Karangi can not have been without a clue being a member of the Security Council.
Last week, the Orange Democratic Movement claimed that Gichangi procured witnesses and supplied evidence to the ICC implicating Ruto and Joshua Sang.
They further asserted that he testified on July 21 2008 and gave a deadly dossier that named and implicated Ruto and that the ICC Pre-trial Chamber relied a lot on the evidence supplied by the former intelligence boss Gichangi to confirm the charges against Ruto.
ODM further claimed that Gichangi’s name was submitted to the ICC as one of the witnesses for Uhuru’s case. However, when Ruto asked for Gichangi to help him with information for his case, he allegedly refused. The evidence was to assist Ruto in his defence in the ICC case now hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles. The information Ruto needed to bail him out of the dragnet, it is said, was solely in the custody of Gichangi as the intelligence chief then.
According to the list, Karangi was to land the Defence ministry portfolio which would have been rebranded Homeland Security replacing Rachael Omamo who had been moved to Land docket to replace suspended Charity Ngilu. However it is said, Ruto is not comfortable with Omamo at Land ministry and wants Fred Matiang’i who is now acting confirmed with Omamo replacing him at Information, Communication and Technology. Ruto is said to be pushing the lands Bill for his own vested interests and benefits through Matiang’i who of late has come out in defence of the Bill amid strong opposition from MPs, civil society and citizens.
However, in the extreme corners of Uhuru camp, his sidekicks believe a woman is best suited in the Land ministry to wage a decisive war on corrupt dealings at the ministry as opposed to men.
Kones is to replace Davis Chichir in the Energy portfolio. However, whereas Chichir’s return is not being pushed by Ruto team, that of his colleague Felix Koskei, the suspended Agriculture secretary is causing ripples within URP.
The Uhuru team wants all those suspended replaced with pro-Ruto allies with the sparing of Koskei. Koskei is a Nandi and if removed, it will open political battlefield for the DP in Kalenjin politics. The Nandis will start complaining they have been targeted by Jubilee as it happened during the Moi era.
Nevertheless, Uhuru is said to have proposed Kosgey to replace Koskei at the docket. The move was openly opposed by DP allies who said, in 2013, Kosgey backed Raila Odinga and hence need not to be appointed in the Uhuru administration. Henry Kosgey, a former minister in the Moi administration and who stepped down as ODM chairperson is also being fronted by a section in DP’s kitchen cabinet.
URP side is said to have opposed the creation of Homeland Police ministry for Karangi arguing it would water down the office of Inspector General of Police headed by Joseph Boinett whose appointment was lobbied by Rift Valley MPs after a hue and cry following the forced departure David Kimaiyo following upsurge in terrorists attacks. Prof Mugenda whose tenure at Kenyatta University ends in March next year was to take over the education docket from Jacob Kaimenyi. Mugenda has propelled Kenyatta University to new heights since taking over from the late George Eshiwani.
The pro-Ruto wing in the cabinet is said to be opposed to the appointments the same way they did with Eugene Wamalwa’s elevation to Water and Irrigation docket but Uhuru handlers found a way to have him land the plum job anyway.
Our source further divulged that the current push to have Devolution cabinet secretary Anne Waiguru impeached is part of the wider scheme to block the impending cabinet shake-up. The idea is to divert TNA mind from Waiguru survival as they engage into cabinet shuffle bargains. The impeachment which is being backed by key players in URP is likely to divide Jap like the ICC saga has.
But one person Ruto has no time is Nyachae. Sources say Ruto had proposed the Kisii governor Joash Maang’i and not Nyachae. Maangi is a close Ruto ally who has been doing ground work for him in Kisii county where Ruto has made several inroads to upstage Cord’s dominance in the region. Uhuru and Ruto had agreed to give Kisii county a cabinet slot since Nyamira county is represented by Matiang’i, himself a Nyachae relative.
Kisii governor James Ongwae is said to have welcomed it the appointment news. Of late, Maangi and Ongwae have been reading from same script with Maangi toning down his opposition on his boss.
Analysts say should Maangi get the appointment, to Ongwae, it would be a good riddance as he has has been feeling the political heat from Maangi after he declared that he would contest the Kisii gubernatorial seat come 2017.
With Maangi out of the 2017 gubernatorial race, Ongwae and his allies are well aware that he is as good as re-elected in 2017. Ruto allies say Maangi’s appointment would help Ruto in his 2022 presidential bid if the political scenario arising from the ICC events does not change.
His rejection of Nyachae is said to be based on the fact that the larger Nyachae family has lost political ground in Kisii county and whoever aligns with the family politically stands serious setbacks in 2017. Maangi hasb become influential in Kisii politics and Ruto knows his potential.
Nyachae’s frequent and repeated public declarations that he does not want his tenure at the commission extended once it expires, is aimed at avoiding any situation that would block his ascent to the cabinet. Office holders in constitutional commissions are barred from holding cabinet posts or other public offices.
Highly placed sources have revealed that Nyachae’s name is on the list of several new inclusions Uhuru has added to the cabinet which he is reconstructing following the removal of Ngilu, Michael Kamau of Transport, Koskei, Chirchir and Kambi in a botched anti-corruption purge.
Leaks from the presidency have indicated that Nyachae has been primed to get the Devolution docket which is to be hived off from the humongous ministry of Devolution and Planning currently held by Anne Waiguru.
There are fears that part of Nyachae’s brief in the new office will be to entrench Jubilee’s tentacles and plan to make counties subservient to the Central government and craft a situation where county governments will be directly supervised by the provincial administration deployed and managed by the presidency.
Though quick to throw blame at parliament for long delays in publishing Bills and enacting new laws notably: on Land reforms, security sector reforms, the one third women representation in parliament and re-organisation of the provincial administration to align with devolution among others, the CIC chairman failed to anchor the processes of writing the new mandatory laws all the way to the expiry of their deadlines.
Under Nyachae’s watch at the CIC, Kenyans have watched as the executive blatantly broke the law, misapplied the law and even made openly unconstitutional decisions and moves like the removal of Deputy Inspector General of Police Grace Kaindi and picking Joel Kitili as her replacement instead of advertising the post and carrying out interviews as prescribed by the law.
They say you should be careful what you wish for, for the gods just might grant it to you. Deputy President William Ruto is feeling a bit of ICC angst at the moment, and his fears are reflected in the frenetic political noise-making by Kenyan legislators.
The new song in town is who ‘fixed’ Ruto — the narrative over the last few years was that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was somehow responsible for Ruto’s case ending up at the ICC. This has generally failed to gain much traction beyond the sycophantic twilight zone that is Jubilee and URP legislators, and so a new narrative has been sought.
This one is just as absurd as the ‘Raila fixed Ruto’ angle, but its emergence is an indicator of the desperation and utter confusion that surrounds the DP and his closest acolytes.
According to this tale — narrated ad nauseum by the nauseating Gatundu South MP, Moses Kuria, and shouted from the rooftops by select Jubilee and URP MPs — Mr Ruto was fixed by a combination of Mr Odinga and President Kibaki, the latter acting through Martha Karua and other PNU hawks.
Mr Kuria has confessed to having procured some of the witnesses in Ruto’s case himself, and has stated that these were then paid to implicate Mr Ruto. Just for good measure, Mr Kuria then ropes in a few other peripheral figures, all the more to create the appearance of an all-encompassing conspiracy that left no one untouched and which included everyone save for Mr Kuria’s current patron, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mr Odinga has hit back, pointing the finger unwaveringly at the president, and declaring that Kuria never worked for Kibaki and so, if indeed any ‘fixing’ happened, it must have been at the behest of the president — at the time a Cabinet minister. “Tell Kenyans”, thundered Mr Odinga from the safe confines of a trip to Asia, “what you know about how Mr Ruto was fixed and sent to The Hague.”
Don’t be vague
Every politician, it seems, knows who fixed whom, why, and how. So far, so predictable – Kenyan politics is like the Kericho weather: either it’s raining, or it’s about to rain. No room for weather forecast errors there. And all so nonsensical. Mr Kuria might want to make political capital out of the DP’s ICC troubles, but Kuria has neither the political gravitas nor the organisational ability to fix a good barbeque, let alone a case at the ICC.
His utterances and political career so far paint the picture of a politician struggling for relevance and identifying a subject that has enough notoriety for his shrill yelps to be heard above the humdrum din of Kenyan politics.
What is left unsaid is the role Mr Ruto himself played in getting these cases to The Hague. From the very outset, and despite the repeated requests for a local tribunal by Mr Odinga, Mr Ruto was adamant that the cases must be tried at the ICC.
One of his then sidekicks was the Chereng’any MP, Joshua Kutuny, who declared that the suspects in the cases could not hope to get a fair trial in Kenya, and that the only justice to be had was at The Hague. Ruto and his acolytes even coined a phrase ‘Don’t Be Vague, Let’s Go to Hague’ to summarise their position on the matter.
The time has now come for Mr Ruto. There are no ‘fixers’ and there was no conspiracy. He wanted The Hague and the gods heard him. He should stop whining and face it like a man.