Uhuru says Hague case 'political'

Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta has termed his pending case at The Hague as a “political strategy” by his detractors to lock him out of the 2012 General Election.

Mr Kenyatta also dismissed International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s application that the six Kenyans he suspects to be the key perpetrators should not meet with each other.

He said that he was officially still in office as the charges against him had not been confirmed and that any notion of schemes to manipulate the ICC process was misplaced.

“I have to work closely with (Francis) Muthaura since he is the President’s secretary and therefore we have to meet in order to function and be able to work. And again, we are not out to hide anything because we know there is nothing to hide,” said Mr Kenyatta.

He was speaking during a live interview with a Kikuyu vernacular station Kameme FM Tuesday.

In December, Mr Moreno-Ocampo named Mr Kenyatta, the head of the Public Service Francis Muthaura, Postmaster General Major Hussein Ali, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, his Tinderet counterpart Henry Kosgey and journalist Joshua arap Sang as suspected masterminds of Kenya's post election violence that killed 1,133 and displaced 650,000.

Mr Kenyatta reiterated his earlier comments that he is innocent as he was not involved in any “war-like” activities. Instead, he said he went out to help those who had been driven out of their homes during the chaos.

The Finance minister laid the blame on ODM accusing its leaders of not telling their supporters to stop the violence. He said party leaders went around inciting people and declaring that there would be no peace unless they got what they believed was their stolen victory.

“We made the effort of telling our people not to fight back but let the other side tell us if they even on one day they went to ask their supporters to stop the violence. We were out to help our people with such things as food, blankets, shelter and clothing. So what violence did we start?” Mr Kenyatta posed.

Mr Kenyatta said that he was among those who were monitoring the overnight tally of the presidential results at KICC and only left after the announcement that Kibaki had won a second term was made.

He added that they left the venue with the belief that the matter had been sorted and did not expect the kind of violence that broke out.

“We were in a state of shock as people were driven out of their homes. And the violence started in Kibera, in Rift Valley and in Kisumu. The police also had to act as they could not stand to see people been beaten,” said Mr Kenyatta.

On politics, the DPM lashed out at those fighting his association with Eldoret MP William Ruto and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

“Why is it only that it is when leaders from central Kenya meet others from other areas that people say it is tribalism? We are out to unite all Kenyans,” said Mr Kenyatta.

He added that leaders from central Kenya and those from Rift Valley had a right to sit down and discuss issues that have affected them in the past.

Mr Kenyatta said that he was still focused on running for the presidency adding that he was looking forward to working with all leaders from the region to get a single entity that they can use to push their quest for power.

On the controversial appointment in the Judiciary, State Law Office and Budget Office, Mr Kenyatta accused Mr Odinga of insincerity, saying that there were consultations over the matter.

He said that the President followed the process by consulting and passing the list to Parliament, which has the role of vetting and approving or rejecting the nominees.

“Tell me where the President has wronged that there is all this controversy. Why can’t they go to Parliament and reject the list if they do not want those nominated for whatever reason? It seems more like a strategy to stall the reforms that we have initiated,” said Mr Kenyatta.

He said that the deadlines in the constitution must be respected and the issue should not be politicised as this would stall the implementation process. (Read: All eyes on Kibaki and Raila as deadline nears.)

Mr Kenyatta also said that though it was frustrating to work in the coalition, PNU leaders should be patient and work in assisting President Kibaki achieve his goals. He also said that there was also need to work on a single party bringing all the PNU coalition parties together.