Muigai, Tobiko ‘set for Hague visit’

A team of senior officers from State Law Office are scheduled to visit the International Criminal Court, the Nation has learnt.

According to sources from the office, who did not want to be named, Attorney-General Githu Muigai, Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko and head of Witness Protection Agency Alice Ondieki will be leaving for The Hague next week.

However sources close to the AG’s office said the meeting will be a reciprocal one to the previous ones made to Kenya by ICC officials and has no relation to the ongoing cases against six Kenyans.

During the visit, the sources said, the team will hold discussions with relevant officers of ICC regarding matters of mutual interest to the court and the Kenya Government.

Among issues to be discussed during the visit include, sharing of evidence, the assistance of the court to Kenya, facilitation of local prosecutions, training of personnel and resettling of victims.

The team will talk on the possibility of having ICC help Kenya domesticate the Rome Statute to enable local prosecutions.

The intended prosecutions will have no relation to the cases involving six Kenyans currently ongoing at the ICC, according to the source.

One of the crucial issues is a meeting with ICC Chief Prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo to discuss the sharing of evidence which was submitted by the Commission of Inquiry into Post Election Violence chaired by Justice Philip Waki. (DOWNLOAD: The Waki Report)

The government wants Mr Moreno-Ocampo to share with it the investigative material gathered by the commission.

The material could be used for purposes of prosecuting domestically those who committed various offences during the 2007/2008 post-election violence.

Six prominent Kenyans have been indicted before the ICC over the post-election violence.

The confirmation hearings against the Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura and Postmaster-General Maj-Gen Hussein Ali are set to start on Wednesday. (READ: Muthaura, Ali and Uhuru to take the stand at ICC)

Await decision

Three others, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey, Eldoret North MP William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang are awaiting the decision of the court on the confirmation of the charges in December.

Last week, the ICC registrar, Ms Silvana Arbia, visited the country and held high-level meetings to pave way for establishment of an ICC outreach office in Kenya.

Ms Arbia held private meetings last Wednesday with the Cabinet sub-committee on the ICC. A number of officers will be deployed to the new office.