UK sends minister in ‘leaked’ papers row

Britain has sent its minister responsible for Africa to Kenya, possibly to defuse a row over disputed documents alleging that London was pushing for President Kibaki to be investigated over post election violence. (READ: UK accused of seeking Kibaki trial at ICC)

Britain’s Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the equivalent of an assistant minister, Mr Henry Belligham, is expected in Nairobi next week.

Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetang’ula said Mr Belligham, one of the people copied in the letters tabled in Parliament, will arrive possibly Tuesday or Wednesday.

His mission is to “seek audience with the Kenyan leadership” regarding the document, Mr Wetang’ula said.

Mr Wetang’ula added that he learnt of Mr Belligham’s visit from the interim British High Commissioner, Dr Peter Tibber, who had visited the Foreign Affairs Ministry early on Monday.

The minister revealed that the controversial document had rattled the diplomatic community in Kenya, but reminded the MPs, who sit in Parliament’s Defence and Foreign Relations Committee, that Britain had since denounced the document as a “fabrication”.

“The policy of Her Majesty’s Government is not to comment on leaked documents. However, having seen copies of the documents in question, we would like to assure the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that these are not genuine,” the British High Commission said in a statement dated March 9, just a day after the document was laid in the House.

Kenya’s spy agency, the National Security Intelligence Service, Mr Wetang’ula said, had “urged caution” regarding the disputed documents, which were tabled in Parliament provoking heated exchanges.

The documents, tabled in parliament last week, claimed that the British were conspiring to get Mr Odinga into power and to have President Kibaki indicted once he retires.

It also claimed that Mr Odinga wanted Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto denied bail by the ICC and locked up.

The drama in Parliament was followed by a series of bad-natured exchanges between Mr Odinga and the other two, with the PM throwing a cat among the pigeons by reiterating that Mr Kenyatta and Ruto ought to be in jail.

On Monday, Mr Odinga was at it again with a stinging attack on the two suspects.

The attack was especially aimed at Mr Ruto, his former deputy in ODM, describing the MP’s announcement that he would return a 100 acre parcel of land belonging to an IDP as an admission of guilt.

“The real beneficiaries of post-election violence are only too evident. They include those currently in the process of returning property acquired in areas where post-election violence victims were known to have been dispossessed of their land,’’ he said in a statement from his campaign secretariat.

“Now these beneficiaries are rushing to return the land, in order to evade court processes. What greater admission of guilt could there be?” he added in the 15-paragraph statement.

Mr Odinga, who appeared to be responding to Mr Ruto’s Sunday remarks describing him (PM) as the main beneficiary of the violence, declared that the coming elections would be an opportunity to fight impunity.

He said: “The next General Election in Kenya will be a referendum on the rule of law — the chance to choose between the rule of law and impunity, between reform and reversal of the gains of the past two decades, between anarchy and order.”

Responding to Mr Odinga’s attack carried in the Sunday Nation, Mr Ruto said the PM should be the last person to call for their arrest claiming Mr Odinga had been implicated in the violence by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights report, naming him as a beneficiary of the violence.

The PM, he said, should be the first person to be jailed if the post-election violence mystery is to be resolved.

“In fact he became the greatest beneficiary after the violence,’’ Mr Ruto said from his constituency.

In his Sunday statement, the PM said Mr Ruto and Deputy Prime Minister Kenyatta ought to be in jail for incitement through their countrywide “prayer’’ meetings.

This elicited angry reactions from the two MPs and their supporters.

The rift between the two sides has been widened by the allegations in Parliament of a conspiracy between the British government and Mr Odinga to have the two arrested and detained at the ICC where they are facing crimes against humanity charges.

Reacting to contents tabled in the House and said to be from a UK ministry, the MPs also claimed that the British were propping up Mr Odinga for the presidency so that he can in return facilitate the hand-over of President Kibaki to the ICC to face the same charges. The document has since been disowned by the UK High Commission.

Defying the ICC

On Monday, Mr Odinga accused the two of dragging his name into their woes while at the same time making political capital out of the ICC.

He claimed his two rivals were preparing grounds to defy the ICC.

“It is clear that the present posturing against the ICC, complete with the weaving in of the PM’s name and that of the British Government, is a dress rehearsal for non-cooperation with the ICC. It is clear that the foundation is being laid for the accused to refuse to attend trials of the cases against them.’’

He accused the two of using the ICC trial as an election agenda with the aim of causing similar election chaos.

“They have put impunity on the election agenda. It appears they would like to see Kenya burn again,” said Mr Odinga.

The news of a visiting big shot from the UK startled MPs on the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee who took the opportunity to ask Mr Wetang’ula to schedule a meeting with the committee to discuss the contents of the document before the House.

The chairman of the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Adan Keynan, and committee member Eugene Wamalwa (Saboti) said it was “in the interest” of the UK to meet the committee to shed light on the document.

Mr Keynan asked Mr Wetang’ula to comment on the simmering issue at the meeting, saying that the committee had taken up the matter to determine the truth.

“As it is right now, that document is part of the records of the House. And because it touches on the President, who is a symbol of national unity, we think it is a very serious issue and that’s why we took up the matter,” said Mr Keynan at Monday’s committee meeting at Nairobi’s County Hall.

The document noted that the Head of State was being investigated in relation to the post-poll violence, and that a friendly candidate would reject his being tried at The Hague should the matters get to that stage.

Under the law, the Committee cannot summon foreign dignitaries, because they enjoy diplomatic immunity. It was Mr Wamalwa’s query in Parliament that opened the doors for the submission of the controversial document by Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo. Mr Kilonzo is also a member of the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee.

Mr Ruto, in an out-of-court settlement, has offered to leave the land belonging to an IDP by April 10.

In papers filed in court last week, the Eldoret North MP said that he required two months to remove his property, including fences and hedges, from the land.

They are yet to conclude the deal as Mr Muteshi has insisted that Mr Ruto must compensate him and bear the cost of the suit.

He also wants the titles that are in Mr Ruto’s possession cancelled. (READ: MPs’ onslaught on Britain was cleverly plotted)