Poll chaos: Ruto wants court to clear his name

• A second minister accused by official human rights group wants name removed

“The compilation is a report and is neither a judgment, nor an order, nor a decree, nor a conviction, nor judicial proceedings falling within a process that can be interpreted so as to fall in a class or resulting in a judgment, order, decree, or proceedings,” said Mr Kigen.

The lawyer complained that Mr Ruto was never served formally nor notified of the existence of the report or the adverse comments against him.

In the earlier suit, Mr Kenyatta denies involvement in the violence, which left over 1,000 people dead and over 600,000 others displaced. He seeks to have his name expunged from that record.

The Commission, chaired by Ms Florence Simbiri-Jaoko, made presentations before Justice Philip Waki’s Commission of Inquiry into the Post-Election Violence.

The KNCHR formed part of the material scrutinised by the Waki Commission, which compiled a list of key suspects for investigation and possible trial.

Part of the Waki list — the key organisers and financiers — is now with the International Criminal Court at the Hague, which will soon start its own investigations into the Kenya violence.

The list was forwarded to ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo by the conflict mediator Kofi Annan after the country failed to establish a local tribunal to try the suspects.

Mr Ocampo visited Kenya early this month and announced after meeting with President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga that the ICC will start hearing his application on the country next month.

He moved on his own accord to start the process after Kenya declined to formally refer the case to the ICC. In his suit, Mr Kenyatta says the KNCHR claimed he organised the financing of a pro-Kikuyu grouping in Central Province. He says the Commission made the report without hearing him, which was against the principles of natural justice.

Similarly, Mr Ruto accuses the Commission of publishing the report without seeking his side of the story. He says he was not afforded an opportunity to test the evidence upon which he was adversely mentioned.

Maintain calm

He denies the allegations made, saying he was instead, during the post-election period, involved in asking people to maintain calm and shun violence.

“At all material times, the applicant addressed public rallies where he appealed to Kenyans to maintain calm and shun the said violence,” he says in a sworn statement.

During the November 5 discussions between President Kibaki, Mr Odinga and the ICC prosecutor, Mr Ocampo informed the two principals that the crimes committed met the Rome Statute of the ICC threshold of opening an investigation.