Secrets of the Waki list

Prominent politicians are named in a secret list in a sealed envelope to be presented to former UN secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday.

Contents of the envelope, the Nation learnt, include six current ministers and five MPs, who, it is recommended, should face a special international tribunal set to be named within 60 days.

If the tribunal is not set up in time, the envelope will be handed to the International Court of Justice at the Hague so they can be prosecuted for their part in the post-election violence that threatened to tear Kenya apart.

Former minister

The list also contains seven former MPs, including a minister from the Rift Valley Province who has since died, and a former minister from Nyanza Province.

Others are prominent businessmen from Central and Rift Valley provinces, whose communities were bitter rivals during election campaigns.

One of the prominent leaders is listed as having sponsored a gang of youths to attack rivals during campaigns. The same leader secured their freedom after they were arrested.

The other prominent politician is among leaders accused of sponsoring outlawed Mungiki sect members to unleash terror in Nakuru and Naivasha.

He was among business people who held secret meetings to raise funds for revenge attacks against the Luo, Luhya and Kalenjin.

Others who helped him included two former Central Rift region MPs and a prominent Nakuru businessman. 

All their names were withdrawn at the last minute from the official report presented to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Wednesday.

Instead their names and the evidence gathered against them by the Waki Commission were stuffed in an envelope and sealed.

The decision was taken by the Commission of Inquiry into Post Election Violence, headed by Court of Appeal judge Philip Waki to prevent the culprits from interfering with evidence, ahead of the tribunal’s investigations.

And when the tribunal is finally set up, it will take another six months to prosecute those responsible for the violence.

The Special Tribunal for Kenya will be a court that will seek accountability against people bearing the greatest responsibility for crimes relating to the controversial elections last year.