ODM confusion over legal aid for ICC suspects

MPs led by ODM parliamentary secretary Ababu Namwamba (right) on March 24, 2011 said the party would hire lawyers for its members accused of crimes against humanity but secretary-general Anyang’ Nyong’o (left) denied that the party was giving legal aid to anyone. Photos/FILE

Confusion reigned in the Orange Democratic Party on Thursday evening over whether the party was offering to hire lawyers for its members accused of crimes against humanity.

A group of MPs announced that the party would hire lawyers for its members accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

They also announced that the party would sponsor a Bill seeking the establishment of a local tribunal to try cases relating to the post-election violence.

The announcement was made by MPs led by ODM parliamentary secretary Ababu Namwamba and deputy secretary-general Joseph Nkaissery.

The party lawyers, said the group, would be asked to accompany the three suspects, who include suspended Higher Education Minister William Ruto, suspended Industrialisation Minister and ODM chairman Henry Kosgey and Kass FM radio presenter Joshua Sang to The Hague.

“Whether it is at a court in Kibera or at The Hague, every suspect has a right to a fair trial and justice,” Mr Namwamba said.

Party secretary-general Anyang’ Nyong’o, however, denied that the party was giving legal aid to anyone. “The ODM party organs have not discussed nor agreed to any legal aid to any of the Ocamp Six.

“Any statement attributed to the party in that regard is the personal view of the exponent and not the party,” Prof Nyong’o said in an SMS.

Legal experts

The party has been struggling to find a consistent position on The Hague question. It had strongly argued for The Hague trials, but last week called a press conference to say it was backing a local tribunal. (READ: ODM pushes for ICC-led local trials)

At a press conference at Parliament on Thursday evening, the MPs allied to Mr Odinga said the decision to offer aid was taken by the National Executive Committee and the Parliamentary Group meeting on Tuesday.

They declined to name the lawyers, saying only that they would accompany the three to the ICC at The Hague on April 7, and support them. “The party will hire legal experts to hold brief, accompany the members and support them,” Mr Nkaissery said.

In its earlier petition to the United Nations Security Council, ODM had pointed at the previous failure to establish a local tribunal and the difficulty of having credible local trials as reasons why “the ongoing ICC process is the best and only means of securing justice to the innocent victims”. (READ: Reject Kenya plea, Orange asks UN)

In what it termed 16 reasons why deferral should be rejected, ODM argued that Kenya was incapable of creating a credible judicial mechanism because local trials would be subject to “political manipulation by leaders pleading the ethnic card; threats to witnesses, their families and friends.

Indeed, many witnesses have been hunted down and killed by State security agents and undue delays caused by frivolous and vexatious applications.

On Wednesday, a straight-shooting Mr Odinga told the suspects to go and prove their innocence at The Hague, terming it sad that Kenyans who had been “killed like rats” had been ignored as the suspects filled the political space with protestations of innocence.

Relations between Mr Ruto and the party leader have generally been bad while Mr Kosgey appeared to fall out with Mr Odinga after it was announced that the minister was among those to be tried in relation to the violence that claimed 1,133 lives and forced eviction of 650,000 others from their homes.

On Thursday, ODM took a swipe at the Party of National Unity accusing it of trying to shield the Ocampo Six from justice by having their cases deferred.

“The shuttle diplomacy where the Vice President has been lobbying characters, some of who are candidates of international investigations, have the brought the country ridicule and odium,” Mr Namwamba claimed.