2 July 2009
Nairobi — The Kenya Government plans to change key parts of the proposed tribunal law in an attempt to get MPs to vote for it.
Amendments to the tribunal Bill was top on the agenda of the meeting between a Kenyan delegation and former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, who mediated an end to the political crisis in 2008.
Two clauses are likely to be amended: The one that requires office holders to be charged for crimes committed by their juniors and another which said suspects are to resign and face arrest the moment they are named.
Disarm MPs
The amendments are intended to disarm MPs and get them to vote for a local tribunal. The two clauses were contested by MPs and may have caused the Bill to be rejected by Parliament.
Some politicians and top government officials would like every person held to account for their own actions and for suspects to resign and be arrested once investigations are complete and evidence against them gathered.
The Kenyan delegation, made up of Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo, Lands minister James Orengo and attorney-general Amos Wako, will need the cooperation of the Panel of Eminent Personalities to change the proposed law.
The panel chaired by Mr Annan was instrumental in hammering out the National Accord that ended two months of violence following the announcement of the disputed results of the 2007 presidential election.
The Kenyan team met Mr Annan on Thursday and issued a joint statement in which the former UN boss expressed "satisfaction" over the "constructive talks" they had on the progress the government had made in forming the special tribunal.
Satisfaction
Mr Kilonzo, who read the statement to the Nation on the phone said: "The meeting between the Kenyan delegation and the chairman of the Panel of Eminent African Personalities expressed satisfaction with the discussions on the progress of modalities of establishing the local special tribunal".
He said the talks would continue after the delegation meets the ICC team, including chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Friday. "Satisfaction means there is still a window for us to engage the Panel after we have met the ICC," Mr Kilonzo said.
A source at the meeting, who cannot be named as he would be violating the discussions' confidentiality, said the meeting centred on the divisions in Kenya over whether to form a local tribunal or to send the suspects believed to have organised the violence to be tried at The Hague.
The issue of an extension of the August deadline did not come up, the source said, adding that Mr Annan will be monitoring the efforts of the government as it seeks to put in place the tribunal as the deadline draws closer.
After meeting Mr Ocampo, the delegation -- which also includes Justice assistant minister William Cheptumo -- will return on Saturday.
Here at home, a robust debate continues on whether the architects of the violence -- in which more than 1,133 people were killed and 650,000 evicted from their homes -- should be sent to the International Criminal Court or be tried locally by a special tribunal.
Adding its voice to the debate, the National Council of Churches of Kenya said the suspects should be sent to The Hague. The association grouping Protestant churches will next week send a team to meet Mr Moreno-Ocampo to ask him to take up the Kenyan case immediately.
"The government team can go to Geneva to lobby for more time but we are proceeding to the Netherlands without reference to anybody because the hour of reckoning has come," said NCCK general secretary, Peter Karanja.
According to him, those who hide behind "hollow reconciliation" must be brought to book. US ambassador to Kenya, Mr Michael Ranneberger, took a different position. He said Kenya had the legal capacity to prosecute its own criminals.
The clause on official responsibility is seen as a key impediment to the passing of the Bill since it places those who were in charge during the violence in the dock for the offences committed by their juniors.
Among those who could be at risk of prosecution, if the clause were retained, is the Environment minister John Michuki who was then in charge of the Internal Security docket.
Also at risk is Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and Administration Police Commandant Kinuthia Mbugua as their officers were accused of causing at least 43 per cent of the deaths reported at the height of the violence.
When MPs were debating the Bill in March, some expressed fears that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga may also be exposed to prosecution.
Speaking to the Nation in March, Ms Beatrice Le Fraper Du Hellen, a special adviser to Mr Moreno-Ocampo, insisted that even though they would prefer Kenya to set up a tribunal locally, such a tribunal "had to meet standards that were set internationally."
At the US Independence Day celebrations in Nairobi, MPs Martha Karua and Kiema Kilonzo said the deadline for setting up the tribunal should not be extended because there was no political will to establish the tribunal.
Ms Karua, who was the minister for Justice during the first attempt to push through the Bills in Parliament, accused President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga of not being committed to bringing justice to the victims of the post-election violence.
Reported by Bernard Namunane, Benjamin Muindi and Kenneth Ogosia
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Mr. William Ruto, Soon and very soon you will be held to account. It does not matter about the dance you perform and no matter who you try to intimidate and spin your warped sense of right and wrong, you will account for your sins. You are the stumbling block to justice in Kenya and your actions are the ones causing tension in Kenya. Precisely, Mr. Ruto what are you hiding and do you think you are fooling anybody.
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