Nairobi — Three Kenyan ministers left the country last night for Geneva, Switzerland, on a mission to convince chief mediator Kofi Annan to give the government more time to form a local tribunal.

Mr Mutula Kilonzo (Justice and Constitutional Affairs), Mr James Orengo (Lands) and Attorney General Amos Wako were also tasked to push for a third option of setting up a special court in any neighbouring country where the suspected key architects of the post-election violence can be tried, sources disclosed.

The three-member delegation, which will end up at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, will first meet Mr Annan who has given Kenya up to the end of next month to form the local tribunal.

Should that fail, the former UN secretary-general will hand over the secret envelope containing the names of key politicians and businesspeople to the ICC.

Asked about the trip, Mr Kilonzo said: "This is a trip with a specific mission which we have to accomplish. It has to do with the tribunal, but I cannot reveal the details now."

Even as the Justice minister was economical with details, the government said the agenda was agreed upon by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Tuesday last week.

Inasmuch as they have publicly stated that they will not ask for more time, it emerged on Wednesday that the three ministers will attempt to convince Mr Annan to give the government an extension.

This, we learnt, was driven by the fact that some members of the Cabinet from both PNU and ODM were opposed to the establishment of the local tribunal and preferred The Hague to take over the case.

Last weekend Agriculture minister William Ruto said it would be futile to re-introduce the two Bills on the tribunal in Parliament.

Common position

On Wednesday, deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi said that leaders should quickly agree on a common position on the trial of key layers of the post-election violence. "We must close our ranks on this issue and give Kenyans the way forward," said Mr Mudavadi.

Sources said that Mr Kilonzo, Mr Orengo and Mr Wako will seek to convince Mr Annan to agree on a third option of a special court similar to the Sierra Leone and the International Tribunal on Rwanda.

However, Mr Annan has been opposed to this third option and it remains to be seen whether he will give in to the government's pleas.

Before they left, the three ministers met with their Serena Team colleagues and agreed on the need to rally MPs behind the two Bills on the special tribunal.

But those in attendance said that fears were expressed that MPs were likely to reject the two Bills for the second time.

Speaking outside Serena Hotel on Tuesday, Mr Kilonzo said: "We shall be giving Mr Annan all the facts as they are...we shall not hide anything.

Explore ways

"The consultative meeting is also meant to explore ways of tackling impunity once and for all. The post-election violence was just a tip of the iceberg. We also have to deal decisively with impunity that has been prevalent throughout post-independent Kenya."

Mr Kilonzo said the debate on the fate of the post-election violence suspects was healthy and urged Kenyans to propose the way forward. He warned that Kenyans should "never surrender" their rights to have the perpetrators of the violence tried outside the country.

At least 1,000 people were killed while 350,000 others were rendered homeless in the violence. The delegation will meet with ICC chief prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo at The Hague, Netherlands.