ICC seeks Sh1 billion to prosecute Kenya cases
What you need to know:
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking Sh1 billion to prosecute cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta, his Deputy William Ruto and radio journalist Joshua Sang next year
- The cases have cost Sh2.5 billion since 2010 when The Hague court took up investigations into the 2008 post election violence that left 1,300 people dead and displaced 300,000 others
- This year, the court has spent Sh793 million to fund the two high profile cases involving the President, his deputy and Mr Sang
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking Sh1 billion to prosecute cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta, his Deputy William Ruto and radio journalist Joshua Sang next year.
The cases have cost Sh2.5 billion since 2010 when The Hague court took up investigations into the 2008 post election violence that left 1,300 people dead and displaced 300,000 others.
This year, the court has spent Sh793 million to fund the two high profile cases involving the President, his deputy and Mr Sang.
Yesterday, President of the Assembly of States Tiina Intelmann said the court’s budget of Sh12.6 billion was inadequate for the work ahead and could expose it to investigation setbacks.
“Consultation meetings held this week will provide an outcome to the budgetary problems that have curtailed in-depth investigations on the accused by the court,” Ms Intelmann said.
The budget proposals were presented at the ongoing Assembly of States on Saturday and are expected to be approved later this week.
“The draft budget is considered and commented upon by the Committee on Budget and Finance (CBF),” said Ms Intelmann.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has urged CBF to push for better budgetary allocations that will enable the office to perform duties. The court recently experienced setbacks over shoddy preliminary investigations.
According to the proposed 2014 budget Sh336 million would be used to finance court operations, while an additional Sh546 million would be spent on funding the court’s field operations in the two Kenya cases.
The court projects that in 2014 there will be a substantial increase of activities on the Kenyan situation with two trials expected to go for 12 months each.
President Kenyatta’s trial will start on February 5 while Ruto and Sang’s case which was adjourned on Friday will resume on January 13.
The court has proposed the procurement of video teleconferencing facilities to be used in the Kenya cases.
The President and his Deputy have been pushing for physical absenteeism from the court.
“In the Kenyan cases, Chambers envisage having the accused follow the hearings via video teleconferencing (VTC) from Nairobi.”
More VCT facilities would also be ordered to facilitate witness participation in the cases.
This story first appeared on Businessdailyafrica.com
