Cabinet bid to protect poll chaos witnesses

• Wako wants the law changed to secure evidence for Hague vote violence trials

A Cabinet committee meets on Tuesday to discuss better protection for post-election violence witnesses.

The team will consider changes to the Witness Protection Act aimed at strengthening it.
The meeting, to be chaired by Prime Minister Raila Odinga, will scrutinise the changes to the Act to pave way for provisions that guarantee witnesses safety and confidentiality.

The government has been prompted to take the step following concerns raised by the International Criminal Court, lobby groups and the international community.

Threats in Rift

It also comes in the wake of reports that witnesses who gave evidence to the Waki team were receiving threats in the Rift Valley and elsewhere.

On Monday, sources said Attorney General Amos Wako had proposed changes to the Act. They include provisions for operational autonomy, covert capability, confidentiality and accountability to ensure the Kenyan law meets international standards.

These are the four key pillars of Witness Protection laws worldwide yet they are missing in the Kenyan legislation.

“The law is toothless as it is now. Witness protection requires a lot of money through parliamentary approval and this should be done,” said former Kikuyu MP Paul Muite.

Should the amendments be approved by the Cabinet and passed by Parliament, the government will be able to relocate, change identification and sponsor witnesses.

Other proposed amendments seen by the Nation include broadening the definition of a witness to “include a person who makes a statement or agrees to testify in defence of an accused person.”

Also proposed is a fund to compensate victims of crimes committed by the suspects and provisions for cooperation with foreign countries in which witnesses can be relocated.

The amendments will also strengthen the witness protection programme, now administered by the AG’s office, by transforming the unit into an independent agency that can seek its own funding and whose officers may be allowed to carry guns.

Witnesses are expected to play a crucial role in the prosecution of the masterminds of the 2008 post-election violence in which more than 1,133 people were killed and at least 650,000 displaced from their farms and homes.

Key suspects

However, the witnesses have come under intimidation from the key suspects, with some of them seeking assistance from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).