Lawyers shine spotlight on Raila, Kibaki
President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga were dramatically drawn into the pre-trial hearings in The Hague as the prosecution and defence took the stand on an eventful first day of proceedings on Wednesday.
Lawyers for Head of Public Service and Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura revealed President Kibaki had submitted a statement in which he expressed his dissatisfaction with the way chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had conducted his investigations.
President Kibaki appeared to suggest that Mr Muthaura, his principal aide throughout his time in office, was not involved in the violence.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga was the central subject of submissions by the counsel for Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta, who advanced the theory that it was Mr Odinga, not Mr Kenyatta, who was behind the violence.
Combustible alliance
Lawyer Steven Kay said the PM worked with American consultant Dick Morris to craft a strategy to cause mayhem if he did not emerge victorious after the elections.
Speaking after he played a television clip of Mr Morris taking office as a consultant for Mr Odinga, he said: “As we know the election results did not favour Raila Odinga and he cried rigging.
Just as Mr Morris’ other clients in Ukraine, the Orange party leader Viktor Yuschenko, he called for mass action.”
Mr Muthaura’s lawyer, Karim Khan, said that President Kibaki was unhappy with not being interviewed by Mr Moreno-Ocampo to offer his side of the story.
The statement from President Kibaki says the prosecutor never discussed the facts or details of the investigations with him.
Said the President: “Until this day he has not interviewed me on any facts and I personally found this quite surprising given the charges he has brought against members of my government.”
Mr Kay’s statement was extraordinary for the amount of time he spent implicating Mr Odinga in the violence, with only the tail end of his submissions being devoted to demonstrating his client’s innocence. Postmaster-General Hussein Ali’s lawyer Evans Monari said his client spent considerable energy to stop the violence.
Earlier, the prosecutor laid out his case in which he submitted that Mr Muthaura and Mr Kenyatta worked in concert with the Mungiki to kill, displace and assault thousands of ODM supporters in a bid to consolidate President Kibaki’s hold on power after the disputed elections.
Before a hushed court Mr Moreno-Ocampo outlined the case which will be tested by the defence in the next fortnight.
He said the duo was the driving force behind a plan by senior PNU officials to unleash a wave of violence on communities perceived as having opposed Mr Kibaki’s bid for re-election in a bid to force them to accept the results announced by the electoral commission.
Mr Ali was cited as having gone along with the plan by allowing the Mungiki youth to proceed to Naivasha, Nakuru and Eldoret unmolested to carry out the attacks.
“Members of the PNU (leadership) implemented the organisational policy. They mobilised mid-level perpetrators, provided weapons, transportation and funds,” Mr Moreno-Ocampo said.
Many of the details he outlined in his 30-minute opening statements were not new.
But in a briefing to reporters shortly before the hearings began on a rain-swept, windy day at The Hague, the prosecutor for the first time went on the record to say he would be relying on “very interesting” material prepared by the National Security Intelligence Services to back his case.
“There is no doubt those crimes were committed,” said Mr Moreno-Ocampo. “The question is who is responsible. Different sources indicate that the PNU leaders associated with the Mungiki under the protection of the police are.”
The prosecutor claimed the initiator of the idea to send the Mungiki out was Mr Kenyatta.
“(The first meeting on December 30) was convened to ponder how to react to the violence organised by (William) Ruto and others in the Rift Valley. Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura attended. Mr Kenyatta proposed to use Mungiki. In addition Kenyatta gave money to those he intended would coordinate the activities planned. The Mungiki coordinators received Sh3.3 million each. Mr Kenyatta proposed the policy to attack. He proposed to use them and to (organise for) coordination and money.”
The prosecutor claimed Mr Muthaura was more active at the second meeting on January 4, 2008.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo cited an instance where the then Internal Security minister, Mr John Michuki, was requested to facilitate the police-Mungiki cooperation but declined and referred the matter to Mr Muthaura who allegedly authorised the request.
