Trader may sue Bensouda for libel

A Nakuru tycoon named as an alleged accomplice of President Kenyatta in the 2007/8 post-election violence has threatened to sue International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda for defamation.

The threat comes barely a week after Ms Bensouda implicated senior politicians and business people in the retaliatory killings during the post-election violence in a report released on Monday.

Mr Zakayo Maina Waweru, who addressed the press in Nakuru town Saturday morning, denied playing a role in the violence that saw President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto charged at the ICC.

“It is unfortunate that the prosecutor has accused me of supplying the Mungiki with guns used in the retaliatory attacks in Nakuru just because I was a defence witness,” said Mr Waweru, disclosing that his factory housed hundreds of people who had fled their homes for fear of being attacked.

The businessman, who operates a timber factory in the town, termed the allegations baseless, saying he was shocked by the ICC dossier. Mr Waweru said that even President Kenyatta’s lead counsel Steven Kay had visited him to establish how he provided a safe haven for displaced families in his factory.

He also distanced himself from allegations that he funded the Mungiki, who the ICC prosecution claims carried out retaliatory attacks on perceived ODM supporters.

“The Prosecution claims that I was distributing guns to the Mungiki. Those are total lies,” Mr Waweru said.

He accused Ms Bensouda of dragging people’s names through the ICC mud and said he was contemplating suing her for defamation. “I am a businessman and the alleged link to Mungiki will strain my relationship with clients,” he said.

SHODDY INVESTIGATIONS

Separately, former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga said Saturday the evidence alleging President Kenyatta financed Mungiki to cause violence in Naivasha and Nakuru is “a shoddy piece of investigation embellished with hearsay.”

Mr Njenga said the prosecutor had failed to substantiate her allegations that his Mungiki handlers received cash to cause violence in parts of the Rift Valley.

“She keeps talking about huge sums of money given at various hotels but never says how much. You can’t investigate and fail to give specific figures unless you are feeding on hearsay and creation of the mind,” he said, and termed as wild allegations Ms Bensouda’s claim that guns were obtained from State House in Nakuru.

Concerning the releasing of evidence against President Kenyatta,  Mr Njenga said the public now had a better chance of understanding why Bensouda’s case against Mr Kenyatta collapsed.

“The collapse of the case was a relief to me because my name was dragged in without any tangible documentary evidence,” said Mr Njenga at his Isinya home.

Mr Njenga denied Mr Kenyatta telephoned him while he was at Naivasha to seek his approval for the Naivasha and Nakuru attacks. “The last time I met or spoke to Mr Kenyatta  on the telephone was in 2002 when he was a presidential candidate because we supported his bid,” he said.

Ms Bensouda, in her “Public Redacted Version of Second Updated Prosecution” pre-trial brief dated August 26, 2013 that was was released last Monday, said after contacting Mr Njenga through intermediaries before the violence, Mr Kenyatta telephoned him directly to confirm his approval for the attacks.

“It is a fallacy that youth supporting PNU were Mungiki. Our stand was clear. We did not vote for Kibaki in 2007 or even Uhuru Kenyatta in the last elections. Our political dealings with Uhuru collapsed in 2002, adding they supported ODM leader Raila Odinga because he was more sincere.