Local courts to try Waki list suspects

• But those indicted by The Hague will be handed over to Ocampo, says Cabinet

A divided Cabinet on Thursday gave up on a local tribunal and decided to clean up the police force and the local courts and have them try post election violence suspects.

But it will also hand over those indicted by the International Criminal Court to chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

And it will change the law to give the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission more teeth besides making its membership more widely accepted.

The Cabinet is desperately divided with some of its members suspected to have either masterminded or funded the election violence in which more than 1,133 people killed and about 650,000 evicted from their homes.

Overcome differences

Thursday’s decision appears to be an admission that the Cabinet was unable to overcome differences among its members.

It will also likely disappoint many countries, such as the European Union and the US, which have been pressing Kenya to form a special tribunal.

Both the police and the courts are woefully inefficient, enjoy very little confidence from the public and are the reason for widespread impunity.

The Cabinet decision was announced by President Kibaki, flanked by Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the entire Cabinet at State House, Nairobi.

The six-hour meeting, the third in two weeks, was described by Cabinet ministers who attended it but can not named because the sessions are confidential, as “stormy”.

Speaking on the lawns of State House, President Kibaki said: “They (suspects) will be tried locally. We are not saying anything about a special tribunal. We are able to try anybody and the laws are there.”

Asked whether the government had abandoned the idea of setting up a special tribunal, the President Kibaki replied: “We have not abandoned anything at all; so don’t bring anything that you have been imagining out there. We have not abandoned it since we have not created it.”

Extensive reforms

Mr Odinga said: “The Cabinet has decided to carry out extensive reforms of the Judiciary, police and investigative arm of government to try the suspects locally.”

The tension among the ministers as the decision was announced, however, tended to suggest that the matter was far from settled.

Some ministers wanted The Hague as the only option, while others wanted a local tribunal with the powers to try anyone. Yet a third group preferred national healing and reconciliation.

In the Cabinet statement, the President said the government had committed itself to “undertake accelerated and far-reaching reforms” in its various arms as part of the Agenda Four of the national accord which was hammered out to end the post-election violence.

The decision was based on one of the options given to the Cabinet by a sub-committee led by Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo.