Uhuru sues over poll violence report

Deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday filed a case that is likely to have serious implications on the Waki Report on post-election violence.

Mr Kenyatta, who is also the Finance minister is seeking to expunge his name from a report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights which named people who financed and organised the violence in which more than 1,000 people were killed and 350,000 made homeless.

Sought too is an order to have the findings in the report on Mr Kenyatta quashed.

The commission’s report was presented by its chairperson, Ms Florence Simbiri-Jaoko, to Mr Justice Philip Waki as he chaired an inquiry into the violence that erupted following presidential election.

On Friday Lady Justice Roselyn Wendoh allowed the minister to institute proceedings that might see his name deleted from the report.

Through lawyer Desterio Oyatsi, Mr Kenyatta told the court that the report had been made public, and that it was within public knowledge.

Natural justice

Mr Kenyatta says the report alleges that he organised the financing of a pro-Kikuyu fund in Central Province. He complains that the commission made the report without hearing him, going against the principles of natural justice.

He said the commission had no jurisdiction to make a decision on evidence that had no probative value.

While certifying the application as urgent, Lady Justice Wendoh directed Mr Oyatsi to serve the commission with the court papers within 14 days.

Elsewhere, a former MP has called for the review of the Bill seeking to protect a special tribunal to try the violence suspects before MPs vote on whether it should be adopted.

Speaking at a forum on transitional justice at Nairobi’s Silver Springs Hotel, Mr Paul Muite asked Justice minister Martha Karua to “withdraw the Bill, build consensus on the fundamental flaws and have it redrafted,” before presenting it to Parliament.

Mr Howard Varney of the International Centre for Transitional Justice opposed a suggestion to try some suspects at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, as untenable.

He said: “Even with the prevailing mood, a local tribunal would be the best thing for the reconciliation and healing in this country.”

He said the international community currently suffering from a “funding fatigue” would be reluctant to bankroll two parallel investigations.

Additional reporting by Alphonse Shiundu