Poll chaos: Ruto wants court to clear his name

Agriculture minister William Ruto wants his name removed from a report linking him to post-election violence.

Mr Ruto went to court on Friday seeking to have his name expunged from a report released by a statutory human rights watchdog.

He accuses the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights of making oppressive and arbitrary findings and, in addition to having his name removed, wants the entire report quashed.

Mr Ruto becomes the second Cabinet minister, after Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, to move to court seeking to be cleared from the KNCHR report.

Certified urgent

In an application certified urgent, the Eldoret North MP says the report launched in July this year adversely mentions him as a participant in pre- and post-2007 election violence.

He says the report, titled On the Brink of Precipice: A human Rights Account of Kenya’s Post 2007 Election Violence, accuses him of planning, inciting and financing the violence.

Mr Kenyatta, who is also the Finance minister, has also moved to court arguing that he was not given a chance to defend himself.

Two judges have been appointed to hear his case, which has been set for February next year.

In reply, KNCHR says all persons adversely mentioned were given a chance to defend themselves, but they ignored it.

Through lawyer Katwa Kigen, Mr Ruto argued before Justice Roselyn Wendoh that he had managed to get a copy of the report from the KNCHR and gone through it. This, he said, was after his name was subjected to adverse publicity and, in the end, injured his standing and reputation.

The judge certified the application urgent and allowed Mr Kigen to institute proceedings with a view of quashing the report.

Adverse publicity

The counsel told the court that the matter was so urgent as to be accorded priority since his reputation and standing had been subjected to adverse publicity. He said if not heard urgently, Mr Ruto would continue to suffer irreparable loss and damage.

In his sworn statement filed in court, Mr Ruto faults the report, saying it was compiled by KNCHR purporting to exercise its statutory jurisdiction, but it ended up affecting his rights and legitimate expectations.

“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.