Judge Rawal picked to aid Hague probe

Lady Justice Kalpana Rawal was on Tuesday appointed to help top government officials record statements with International Criminal Court investigators, according to Judiciary sources.

Chief Justice Evan Gicheru named the judge as it emerged that the ICC was following the trail of money used during the election chaos of December 2007 and early 2008.

Wako wrote to CJ

The appointment comes a day after Attorney-General Amos Wako wrote to the CJ asking him to appoint a judge before whom five provincial commissioners (PCs), six provincial police officers (PPOs) and dozens of district commissioners, who served in the areas that were hit by the violence, will record statements.

On Monday last week, the PCs, PPOs and DCs had declined to record statements, citing the provisions of the International Crimes Act regarding reluctant witnesses. The law requires that they record statements before a judge.

The officials have retained lawyers Evans Monari, Ken Ogeto and Gershom Otachi to represent them. Lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi is representing the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS).

The Rome Statute places criminal responsibility on the bosses for the crimes committed by juniors. This is when either the bosses were aware of the crimes that their subordinates were committing or could have controlled their actions.

Mr Wako also wrote to the ICC team leader, who had flown back to The Hague, informing him of the preparations to record statements from the government officials.

On Tuesday, an official who is briefed on the ICC investigations said The Hague had been given information by witnesses and jailed Sabaot Land Defence Force members on how the post-election violence was financed.

The official said investigators were following the money trail from the accounts of influential politicians to militia gangs, who unleashed terror during post-election violence.

The idea of top level officials being held responsible for the actions of their juniors is reportedly causing anxiety in government, especially after the PCs, DCs and PPOs were summoned.

The PPOs and PCs the ICC is interested in are those who served in Rift Valley, Nyanza, Western, Nairobi and Coast provinces at the time of the violence.

The PCs in office at the time were Ernest Munyi (Coast), Abdul Mwasera (Western), Noor Hassan Noor (Rift Valley), James Waweru (Nairobi) and Paul Olando (Nyanza).

The PPOs include Grace Kahindi and Antony Kibuchi (Nyanza), Everet Wasige (Rift Valley), King’ori Mwangi (Coast), Francis Munyambu (Western) and Njue Njagi (Nairobi).

The Waki report

An official conversant with the work of the ICC told the Nation that the investigators will take statements from Cabinet ministers and MPs named in all the reports issued in connection with the violence. This includes the Waki report and that of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

Several prominent personalities named in the KNCHR report have denied wrong-doing and gone to court to have their names expunged.

They include Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Higher Education minister William Ruto and Tourism minister Najib Balala.

Former Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara and Eldoret farmer Jackson Kibor have also come forward to deny any involvement in the violence.

The investigators are said to have received evidence on how the chaos was planned, funded and executed from former soldiers who are alleged to have trained youths who caused the mayhem.

More than 1,133 people were killed and over 650,000 evicted from their homes in two months of violence that followed the disputed 2007 presidential election. The chaos ended after a power-sharing deal that brought in the Grand Coalition Government.

Reported by Bernard Namunane, Patrick Mayoyo and Jillo Kadida