Witness recalls William Ruto’s role in ODM leadership

The second witness in the case facing Mr William Ruto at The Hague on Monday portrayed the Deputy President as a key figure in ODM who used coded language against some communities in the Rift Valley during the 2007 election campaigns.

Testifying in an open session but with his face blurred and voice distorted on the video monitors, Witness 326 said Mr Ruto used coded and degrading language. At a rally in Kitale after the burial of an ODM supporter, the witness said, Mr Ruto talked of what the party would offer once it ascended to power, especially for the people of Rift Valley.

“It is time the hyenas would give back the land so that landless people can own land,” he reported Mr Ruto as saying at the rally.

When pressed by the presiding judge Chile Eboe-Osuji to clarify if Mr Ruto indeed used the exact term “hyenas” the witness responded in the affirmative, explaining that the crowd understood the term to mean “those who have grabbed lands.”

Mr Ruto’s utterances, the witness said, were well-received by the crowd at the Kitale rally, which he claimed to have been attended by more than a million people.

The Kitale rally, he said was widely covered by the media, including Kass FM where the second accused, Mr Joshua arap Sang, at the time worked. Also covered by the media was the final rally that ODM held at Uhuru Park, Nairobi.

However the witness said he was not a keen listener of the Kass FM since he does not understand the Kalenjin language, nor was he familiar with any of the station’s programmes.

The witness also reconstructed the formation of the Orange Democratic Movement as the vehicle to spearhead the ‘No’ campaign during the 2005 referendum, its transformation into a political party and Mr Ruto’s role in the party’s 2007 election campaigns.

He said Mr Ruto was a member of the highest organ in the party, the Pentagon, alongside Mr Raila Odinga, Mr Musalia Mudavadi, Mr Najib Balala, Mrs Charity Ngilu and Mr Joseph Nyagah.

Mr Ruto was directly in charge of the movement’s campaigns in the Rift Valley and was charged with spreading its message of equal distribution of resources, particularly land, the witness said.

Prosecutor: Following the nomination of Raila Odinga as the presidential candidate, what strategy did the ODM adopt as their election strategy?

Witness: ODM had a strategy of reaching the people on the ground, first of all through the delegates on the ground, secondly, ODM party structures and ODM elected civic and parliamentary candidates and also through the media, campaign materials such as billboards and flyers.

Prosecutor: You just mentioned Pentagon members and the regions they represented. Would it be fair to say that these Pentagon members were assigned provinces to drum up electoral votes.

Witness: That is true.

Prosecutor: Who was charged with delivering Rift Valley, if I may use that term?

Witness: Rift Valley, mostly it was left to the Pentagon member, Mr Ruto. The chairman of ODM was also coming from Rift Valley and they could reach the people of Rift Valley.

Judge: I may then ask you, were the other campaign means, the billboards, the media employed in Rift Valley?

Witness: Yes.

Prosecutor: What is the ethnic make-up of the Rift Valley?

Witness: The majority are the Kalenjin, but it also has other communities like the Kisii, the Luo, Kikuyus and Luhyas.

Prosecutor: Can you estimate the actual percentages of the communities, if you cannot, do not say it.

Witness: No.

Prosecutor: Do you know which were the pressing campaign issues?

Witness: The ODM manifesto was advocating equal distribution of resources including land, equal distribution of opportunities and governance positions.

Prosecutor: Was this strategy meant for the whole country or Rift Valley alone?

Witness: It was not for Rift Valley alone.

According to him, Mr Ruto was one of the key leaders of the ‘No’ team that successfully campaigned against the proposed Constitution during the 2005 referendum.

“By 2005, ODM was not in place as a party but there was an Orange movement,” the witness told the court.

He listed the key leaders of the movement as Mr Ruto, Mr Odinga, Mr Mudavadi, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, Mr Musyoka, Mr Balala and Mrs Janet Ong’era among others.

“There were quite a number of MPs in the movement. After the referendum, majority of people liked the movement,” he said.

The witness recalled how lawyer Mugambi Imanyara, “after picking the concept” went behind the ‘No’ leaders to register the ODM as a party after the referendum.

The witness said although Mr Ruto still remained in Kanu, he associated more with the Orange leaders from the referendum onwards and decamped to ODM in mid-2007.

As a member of ODM, the witness said, Mr Ruto was key to its campaigns and was even a member of the Pentagon.

“The leaders were representing provinces because ODM had promised devolved government and devolved resources,” he said.

The witness said Mr Nyagah represented Upper Eastern, Mrs Ngilu was for the rest of the Eastern province, Mr Balala was ODM’s pointman in Coast, while Mr Ruto and Mr Odinga represented Rift Valley and Nyanza respectively.

The prosecution continues with the examination-in-chief of the witness today before the defence cross-examines him. At the end of the cross-examination, the prosecution will have another chance of re-examining the witness.