ODM to block legal fees budget

Prime Minister Raila Odinga speaks during a prayer meeting for Medical Services minister Prof Any'ang Nyong'o in Kisumu rural constituency on March 13,2011. Photo/TOM OTIENO

ODM will oppose plans to set aside public funds for the legal fees of some of the suspected masterminds of the post-poll violence, three MPs said on Sunday.

Rangwe MP Martin Otieno Ogindo said the Treasury was plotting to table a supplementary budget that would facilitate the release of legal fees for some of the people facing charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Mr Ogindo, his Karachuonyo counterpart, Mr James Rege, and Mr Joseph Oyugi Magwanga of Kasipul Kabondo vowed to block the scheme.

“It is wrong to assist the suspected perpetrators when victims of the violence are still suffering,” Mr Ogindo said.

Those facing charges at the ICC are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Public Service boss Francis Muthaura, former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, his Tinderet counterpart Henry Kosgey and radio presenter Joshua Sang.

Speaking at Wagwe Primary School in Rachuonyo North District at the weekend, the MPs also accused their colleagues who are pushing for the establishment of a local tribunal of being insincere.

“Those are the same people who insisted on trials at The Hague when we rooted for a local tribunal. What has made them change their stand now?” Mr Rege asked.

Elsewhere, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has asked the “Ocampo Six” to prepare to prove their innocence at The Hague instead of bickering while seeking sympathy.

Mr Odinga asked the group to learn from his experience in the 1982 coup. “I was arrested and implicated in the aborted coup, but in the long run, my innocence prevailed,” he said.

The PM termed Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka’s shuttle diplomacy seeking the support of the UN Security Council in deferring the cases as a deliberate effort to waste the taxpayers’ money.

He was speaking at the burial of the Mr Josiah Wandewo in Usigu Division of Bondo District at the weekend.