State to pay for Ali, Muthaura defence

The State will pay for the legal defence of two of the six suspects named by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Nation on Saturday, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka confirmed Cabinet had decided to foot the legal fees of Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura and Postmaster Maj-Gen (rtd) Hussein Ali.

“We looked at all the pros and cons of the matter and decided to make the move,” the VP said at his Karen residence in Nairobi.

“These individuals were acting in the course of their own professional calling … for instance, if you get injured at your place of work, you are entitled to compensation in line with the Workman’s Compensation Act,” he said. “The two were working on behalf of the country ... we must stand by them.”

But Mr Musyoka was quick to clarify that footing the legal fees for the two did not mean the government was being insensitive.

Victims of violence

“It is not that the government does not have the interests of the victims of the violence at heart. The time for compensation and assistance to the victims will also come,” he said.

He added that offering to take on the legal fees of the two was not an admission by the State that it was an accomplice in the crimes against humanity committed in the 2007/2008 violence.

He explained that if the State did not assume the legal bills of the two senior government officials, that would not have sat well with other public servants.

“What then happens when, for instance, all the permanent secretaries resign en masse in solidarity with Mr Muthaura. I can confirm that this is one of those deeply thought-out approaches by the State,” he said.

Last Wednesday, government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the matter of paying the suspects’ legal fees was being reviewed.

“Any decision made will be done in accordance with the Constitution and the code of conduct for civil servants,” he said.

Private capacities

However a day later, Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo opposed the idea, arguing that the two officials are being charged in their private capacities and “therefore cannot expect to get legal representation at the taxpayers’ expense.”

Although the VP did not say how much would be set aside, the Sunday Nation has learnt that a defence fund of Sh250 million for each of the two officials had been discussed.

The VP spoke a day after returning to the country from Uganda and South Africa.

Asked if the government intended to pull out of the ICC, the VP said Cabinet had not made that decision, calling reports to the contrary “mere speculation”.

He said he had travelled as President Kibaki’s special envoy to gain the support of South Africa and Uganda in Kenya’s quest to set up a local alternative to the ICC.