The Nation (Nairobi)
9 July 2009
Nairobi — Chief Justice Evan Gicheru on Thursday appointed two judges to hear a case in which Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta is seeking to erase his name from a report on post-election violence.
However, Mr Kenyatta will have to wait until October 5 before his plea to remove his name from the report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights can be heard.
Depending on how the case goes, it may have serious implications on the Waki report on post-election violence.
The inquiry by Appeal Court judge Philip Waki relied on the commission's report, among other sources, to come up with a list of those responsible for killings during the chaos.
In his suit papers, Mr Kenyatta says he was never given an opportunity to give the commission his side of the story before the report was compiled.
But the commission said on April 15, 2008, it wrote to all MPs, asking them to go and present their version of events, but no one turned up.
However, Mr Kenyatta argues that the letter the commission is talking about was addressed to the deputy prime minister and minister for Trade, not to him as an individual.
He also says the letter did not make any reference to any allegations made against him and received by the commission.
The commission had denied making any conclusive decisions in a report that named people who financed post-election violence in which 1,133 were killed and 350,000 rendered homeless.
Instead, the commission had said, it made recommendations for police to undertake investigations on the list of alleged perpetrators.
The investigations to be done by the police, according to KNCHR, were meant to determine the criminal culpability for human rights violations.
The report which is being complained about was presented by KNCHR's chairperson, Ms Florence Simbiri-Jaoko, to Mr Justice Waki as he chaired an inquiry into the violence that erupted following presidential election.
Mr Kenyatta is also seeking for further orders to have findings on him in the report quashed.
The Finance minister says the report alleges he organised the financing of a pro-Kikuyu fund in Central Province.
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