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ICC & Kenya: the icc judges were duped with kalenjin translation of derogatory words

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HOW THE TRIAL JUDGES AT THE HAGUE WERE DUPED WITH FALSE TRANSLATION OF KALENJIN LANGUAGEBY PROF PAUL CHEPKWONY

Commentary By Leo Odera Omolo,

I am an accomplished authority n Kalenjin language and I was taken back when a witness for Joshua Arap Sang one of the accused currently appearing before the ICC Court at the Hague chose to deliberately cheat the court in giving misleading translation of language.

The world kimurkelda means someone whose teeth are rotten. It is not the word used ordinarily, but it is code and derogatorily or derogatory reference to the Kikuyus.

The other one which is commonly used, but which is already the domain of those Kikuyus who understand the Kalenjin proverb for Kikuyu is Kimoryong’. The latter word is also derogatory, but the users fear it could be easily picked by the targeted

I am suggesting that the ICC Prosecutor and Judges should look for an independent linguistic experts and translators of these two crucial words without relying on the witnesses flown to the Hague by the suspects whose evidence appeared to be totally biased and unreliable to rely on.

The word Kamama Kabmama kab neumametis meaning the place of uncle where one’s mother comes from. But it is also the Kipsigis derogatory reference for the Kisiis or Abagusii. This not n ordinary word commonly used unless someone has something to hide against a person of Kisii origin. So the truth and natural meaning of Kamama is in reference to the Kisiis.

Another example of derogatory words for the Kalenjin against the Luos is King’akut or king’agut meaning someone whose lower teeth were crushed or missing.

Although personally I have no grudge against Mr Joshua Sang nor do I have any political interest what happened in December2007 and January 2008, I did monitor a lot of Mr Sang breakfast top show Lene emet {What the country is saying } I detected a lot of talks which were not very friendly to other people whom I cannot mention here. After all I was not called as witness.

What hurts me most is that the whole Professor of Chepkwony caliber could choose to misled an internal court handling an important case of this magnitude the court on such an important case which Kenyans have a lot of interest.

Mr Sang had a lot of injurious words against Raila Odinga during the Mau Forest saga, which drew my attention to open his programme almost every morning. In most cases his words amounted to incitement, especially when he hosted the fund raising for the evictees of Mau Forest.

I knew Prof Paul Kiprono Chepkwony who was born and brought in village not far from Chepng’obop village in Kapsaus Location where I also grew up and I am sure he cannot doubt an iota of my Kalenjin translation.

Owing to this deliberate and flagrant pack of lies about Kaleniin translation, I am wiring the correct interpretation about Kamama and Kimurkelida words to the ICC chambers so that the judges could evaluate and scrutinize the true meaning of the two words.ICC judges will sought for proper interpretation from other much authority in Kalenjin language.

I am sure for certain the ICC chief prosecutor and the judges will sought for other independent translators instead of relying on Prof. Chepkwony

But I am sure for certain that Prof Chepkwony was groomed and advised to deliberately cheat the Judges. It is indeed a sorry state of affair.It meant I other words the suspects did not take the charges cases they are facing seriously.

Leo Odera Omolo

ICC & Kenya: ADJOURNMENT OF ICC HEARING AND THE MUNGIKI DEBATE

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from ouko joachim omolo
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2011
OCAMPO SIX TAKE-3

Although Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura wants the confirmation of charges hearing against him adjourned for eight weeks, International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has opposed the move on grounds that Muthaura’s defence team led by Mr Karim Khan and other three experienced lawyers “cannot reasonably argue that they require at least eight additional weeks for the team to diligently review 102 pages” comprising four witness statements.

If what Ocampo is alleging is true that a meeting between Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Muthaura and Mungiki, held on December 30, 2007, was at State House, then President Mwai Kibiki may find himself in a big problem to have allowed a criminal meeting to take place at his residence.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo according to media reports also gives Nairobi Members’ Club as the location of a meeting held on January 3, 2008. He says that during the meeting Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura enlisted the services of Mungiki leaders and concluded plans for revenge attacks in the Rift Valley.

Mr Muthaura, Uhuru Kenyatta and Mohamed Ali are required to report at The Hague from September 21 for their confirmation of charges hearings. The hearing is to determine whether Uhuru Kenyatta, Muthaura indeed planned and financed post election violence and whether they facilitated an outlawed gang, Mungiki, to carry out revenge attacks against perceived ODM supporters in Naivasha and Nakuru.

According to Ocampo however, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura met Mungiki and other pro-PNU youth to carry out “retaliatory attacks against perceived ODM supporters in the Rift Valley”.

And if what BBC report is true that Kibaki funded violence using Mungiki, then he might also be asked to go to Hague to defend himself against the allegations. BBC had published a story which says that Kibaki and members of the PNU government orchestrated and planned attacks against other tribes in the Rift Valley using the outlawed Mungiki sect.

The article says leaders of the outlawed group met with president Kibaki in state-house to receive funds for the operations in rift valley. The rampaging Mungiki killed close to 100 people in Nakuru and Naivasha during the post-election violence. A policeman and a mungiki member have been mentioned in the article confessing to the states involvement. For more detail Read The article here.

In 2006 then internal security minister John Michuki challenged members of the illegal Mungiki sect to come up with a programme beneficial to them, saying the Government, through the newly-created ministry for Youth Affairs, would be keen to rehabilitate them by supporting any programme that they might come up with.

“They should give up what they are trying to do and join the minister (for Youth Affairs) and his staff in working out programmes that would be beneficial to them in future,” Michuki was quoted to have said. He was speaking in his Kangema constituency after officially opening Gatung’ara maternity ward built using cash from the constituency development fund (CDF).

If this is true then it confirms the allegations that part of the contents of secret meetings in State House was to hire up to 20,000 Mungiki members in the Kenyan military and police forces, and give Mungiki control of bus terminuses from 2008 if he returns to power in exchange of the sect’s support during this year’s election.

This brings us to the big question as to who are these Mungiki sects. According to Free Wikipedia encyclopaedia, Mungiki is a politico-religious criminal organization group in Kenya. The name means “A united people” or “multitude” in the Kikuyu language.

According to one of Mungiki’s founders, the group began in the late 1980s as a local militia in the highlands to protect Kikuyu farmers in disputes over land with Maasai and with forces loyal to the government, which was dominated by the Kalenjin tribe at the time.

Mungiki according to encyclopaedia arguably has its roots in discontent arising from severe unemployment and landlessness arising from Kenya’s rapid population growth, with many disaffected unemployed youth attracted to an organisation giving them a sense of purpose and cultural and political identity, as well as income. It is against the background that they use the matatus (mini buses) as a springboard.

It was also alleged that in 2002, Mungiki backed losing candidates in elections and felt the wrath of the government. There have been unconfirmed allegations that Mungiki has links to both the old Kanu government and some MPs in the current government even though due to the cult’s extreme secrecy, little is known about its membership or hierarchy.

In an exclusive interview (HeadlinesAfrica) October 24, 2009, the leader of the outlawed Mungiki sect, Maina Njenga was quoted to have asked politicians and wealthy businessmen who have been funding and supporting the sect to stop it. Njenga now says his main agenda will be to destroy the sect which has been credited with wreaking havoc in parts of the country and sending shivers of fear down many Kenyans spines.

Njenga says he will transform the youths into Christians insisting that the best method is by stopping the funding. Njenga claims that politicians, some of whom are in government have been using the sect for their political mileage only to disown them later. Chris Thairu visited Njenga at his Kitengela home and filed the story.

Born in 1969, Maina Njenga who would not complete secondary school commenced his preaching to the multitudes (the Mungiki) in Nyandaura and West Likiapia on January 4, 1988. Since then Mungiki would over the years swell in numbers as Maina Njenga crisscrossed the Rift Valley and parts of Central province.

The Mungiki formed close alliances with other societies such as the Kenya Ex War Council. In line with their traditional practices they would perform purification rites. Major purification rites were carried prior to the land clashes of 1992 and 1997. Mungiki adherents have insisted that anyone who underwent this rite was not harmed during the electoral violence of those years.

Maina Njenga wass arrested in February 2006 in a dawn raid at his Ngong home.
In June 2007 he was sentenced to five years in prison, after having been found guilty for being in possession of an illegal firearm and marijuana.

In June 2008 while in jail and appealing the prison sentence, his wife Virginia Nyakio was shot and her body badly mutilated.

On April 2009 on the day of his acquittal he was rearrested and charged with the murder of thirty people that occurred while he was incarcerated. Six months later in October 2009 the State terminated the charges against him.

Former President Moi joined him at a peace rally in Eldoret last year. It is to be noted that ironically, it was under Moi’s watch that the sect was proscribed.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
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Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
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Kenya & ICC: LOOKING AT OCAMPO SIX AT GLANCE

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Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News
from ouko joachim

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

The Ocampo six is just the symptom and not the disease. Although violence in Kenya was part and parcel of the colonial state, which used it to ensure control, after independence, President Jomo Kenyatta used both the carrot and the stick to maintain power, with the use of violence mainly concentrated in the hands of the State.

Opposition parties were subjected to political harassment and those individuals who refused to support the status quo experienced various types of repression and even detention without trial. Rallies by students and others, were dispersed by the GSU using force.

The Government of Kenyatta was responsible for the murder of three political figures, Pio Gamma Pinto, Tom Mboya, and J.M. Kariuki. Kenyatta viewed them as threats to his regime and potential contenders for political power. Individual members of the opposition who agreed to lie low to Kenyatta were weaned back to the fold through appointments to Government positions, and allocations of land as well as provision of other perks.

Under Kenya’s second President Daniel arap, to consolidate his base after becoming the President, Moi rewarded his supporters, particularly the Kalenjin, through appointments to political offices and with jobs in the public service and the military. These individuals given these were viewed by President Moi’s opponents as not qualified or competent.

It explains why all the elections since multiparty era have been marred with violence. It also explains why 2007 electoral violence were systematic attacks on Kenyans based on their ethnicity and their political leanings. Attackers organized along ethnic lines, assembled considerable logistical means and traveled long distances to burn houses, maim, kill and sexually assault their occupants because these were of particular ethnic groups and political persuasion.

It is against the background that according to the Commission of Inquiry into the Post Election Violence (CIPEV) which began on 23rd May 2008 with an announcement published in the Kenya Gazette Notice No.4473 vol. cx-no.4- under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Philip Waki, a judge of Kenya’s Court of Appeal, the 2007 violence was planned.

The aim was that the Kalenjins could get opportunity to get their illegally acquired land by Kikuyus. Ndungu Report noted that throughout the 1980s and 1990s public land was illegally and irregularly allocated “in total disregard of the public interest and in circumstances that fly in the face of the law”. “Land grabbing” and the allocation of public land as political patronage were part of the gross corruption of this period.

Those involved in this allocation were senior public servants, but also local land boards, the courts, and a range of officials including members of the provincial administration, politicians, and others. Land allocations were therefore used to reward “politically correct individuals”

Given that the recommendations of the Ndungu report were never implemented, this has increased the sense of frustration in attempting to deal with land tenure disputes. The fact that institutions which could have been used to resolve land disputes have not been impartial has encouraged individuals to take matters into their own hands and to use violence to resolve them.

Unless land issue in Kenya is resolved, politicians will still use the occasions of future elections to fuel violence. It explains why politicians have capitalized on issues surrounding land, including encouraging violence during elections. In discussions of post-election violence, many Kalenjins argue that it is a product of longstanding anger over land distribution following independence.

They argue that land was alienated by the colonial government and then unfairly parcelled out to Kikuyus and other groups whom they view as outsiders. Many Kalenjins believe that issues relating to land were the reason for both the pre electoral violence in the 1990s and the post election violence after the December 2007 elections.

Why youths are easily used by politicians

Youths are used given that majority of them are unemployed. Also, given that between 1992 and 1996 alone, the number of street children increased 300 percent in just four years, many of these initially rootless children who are now adults are the product of displacement by ethnic violence. They have grown up on the streets and are inured to violence.

The combination of being rootless, having survived amidst violence, plus their need for an identity and a livelihood makes them ready recruits for violent gangs, which exist all over Kenya and are tapped by politicians, particularly but not exclusively during elections. They are devoid of ideology and operate on a willing buyer willing seller basis.

Apart from street children, there is also a growing problem of unemployment among youth who are university educated, estimated to be around 40,000 a year, given that only 150,000 formal sector jobs have been created since 2003, raising the spectre of whether these individuals will also be ready to engage in violence as well if they are unable to find work.

In the past many politicians have used these violent gangs to decimate their opponents, to protect themselves from a dictatorial state in the 1990s, and to gain power then and now. This has itself given gangs such as Mungiki, the Taliban, Chinkororo and others a life and the ability to operate without fear of being caught because they are well protected. That is why the attempts by the government to ban such gangs are fruitless.

It explains further why the main perpetrators of systemic violence have never been prosecuted. That is why, unless this scenario comes to an end, violence in Kenya will always remain endemic, out of control, and used routinely to resolve political differences.

According to paragraphs 90 and 91 of the Waki report, in each clash area, non-Kalenjin or non-Maasai, as the case may be, were suddenly attacked, their houses set on fire, their properties looted and in certain instances, some of them were either killed or severely injured with traditional weapons like bows and arrows, spears, pangas, swords and clubs. The raiders were well organized and co-ordinated. Their attacks were generally under the cover of darkness, and where the attackers were in broad daylight, the raiders would smear their faces with clay to conceal their identities.

The attackers targeted mainly the Kikuyu, but also the Kisii, the Luhya, and the Luo, other non-Kalenjin and non-Maasai communities were not spared. The attacks were barbaric, callous and calculated to drive out the targeted groups from their farms, to cripple them economically and to psychologically traumatize them.

The reasons for clashes according to the various reports were:

1) “Ambitions by Kalenjins of recovering what they think they lost when the Europeans forcibly acquired their ancestral land.

2) The desire to remove “foreigners”, derogatorily referred to as “madoadoa” or “spots” from their midst. The reference was mainly towards the Kikuyu, Kisii, Luo and other communities who had found permanent residence in the Rift Valley.

3) Political and ethnic loyalty.”

The sad part of the story is that of 70 year old Mzee Joseph Mwangi Macharia (Karobe) who watched as seven members of his family were hacked to death – his wife, three sons (aged 36, 33 and 23), one daughter (aged 25), a grandson (aged 6) and a granddaughter (aged 6).

As he pleaded for mercy one of attackers struck his son on the chest with a club and another shot him with an arrow as he tried to escape. Another son was pierced with a spear and his throat was cut. The rest of the family tried to hide inside the house but it was broken down and they were pulled out. His daughter and her child were pulled out and their throats were slit. So was his wife’s throat. That is when Mzee Macharia escaped into a nearby bush and watched as his house was set on fire. He stayed in the bush until the following morning.

On the 31st December Kalenjin warriors were spotted being ferried by lorries from the Ziwa area. They were armed with arrows and bows. Immediately after alighting from the lorries they met with a rival group of Kikuyu youth from Munyaka who were coming from there to defend Kikuyus against the Kalenjin attackers. They were armed with pangas (machetes) and rungus (clubs). The Kalenjins set houses on fire as they retreated.

Most reports from witnesses and others describe large groups of Kalenjin youth blocking roads with felled trees, large boulders, tractors, and the use of petrol to burn dwellings and farms in numerous non-contiguous areas.

In some other cases, reports describe what appear to have been simultaneously coordinated attacks from different points and the need for transport to have brought attackers from miles away to gathering points.

A number of government officials testifying to the Commission also described the violence as spontaneous. A senior provincial government security officer, who testified in camera, told the Commission that it was organized crime.
The larger Nakuru district due to its high Kikuyu population was the hardest hit by the tribal clashes that came to be associated with the region from 1991 to 1998, they include Nakuru town, Molo, Naivasha, Rongai and Subukia Districts.

While Nakuru, Molo and Naivasha Districts have a clear Kikuyu majority, Narok is predominantly Maasai, while Koibatek has a clear Kalenjin majority. In Rongai, the population between Kalenjin and Kikuyu is almost even with a slight margin in favour of the Kalenjin.

With regard to the Mungiki/Kikuyu side, an NSIS report dated 18 December 2007 noted that two Mungiki leaders of the Nakuru chapter were engaging in a recruitment drive aiming at recruiting 300 new members from the Nakuru area.

On 15 January 2008, a week before the most brutal attacks erupted in Nakuru,
NSIS was able to establish that some Mungiki members were planning to discredit the government by instigating chaos in Nakuru, among other places.

After noting the heightening of tension in the Bahati division of Nakuru between the Luo and Kalenjin on one side and the Kikuyu on the other following the eviction of 50 Luos from rental houses belonging to the Kikuyu, NSIS concluded on 18 January 2008 that “confrontations are likely.”

Finally, on 23 January 2008, NSIS had information that a former Nakuru MP was organizing Mungiki members to attack non-Kikuyu people residing within Nakuru town and that the intended targets of the Mungiki included former Nakuru parliamentary candidate and other ODM provincial and district leaders.

Finally, NSIS received information on 25 January 2008 that the Mungiki co-ordinator for Nakuru had advised Kikuyu businessmen in Nakuru Town to close down their businesses and join the sect members in attacking non-Kikuyu to revenge attacks on Kikuyus in North Rift

On the Kalenjin and Luo side, NSIS was informed on 2nd January 2008 of a plan by a group of Luo and Kalenjin youth from the Kaptembwa area of Nakuru to attack the Kikuyu and government supporters and to set ablaze their business premises. According to NSIS, Mungiki was informed of this plan and was able to deploy its members in the affected areas with a view to counter the intended attack. NSIS information on 7 January 2008 was that a Kalenjin chief was leading a group of local elders in mobilizing youths from the Kalenjin community to evict the Kikuyus living in the area.

Planning of Violence in Naivasha: Political Leaders and Mungiki

The Commission received credible evidence to the effect that the violence in Naivasha between the 27th and the 30th January 2008 was pre-planned and executed by Mungiki members who received the support of Naivasha political and business leaders. The Commission has also evidence that government and political leaders in Nairobi, including key office holders at the highest level of government may have directly participated in the preparation of the attacks.

Central to that planning were two meetings held in State House and Nairobi Safari Club in the run up to the election with the involvement senior members of the Government and other prominent Kikuyu personalities.

Evidence produced by NSIS suggests that this agency was collecting information on the planning of violence in Naivasha by Mungiki members and politicians, at both local and national level.

As early as 3 January 2008, NSIS had information that two former MPs of the Kikuyu community were “said to be negotiating with the outlawed Mungiki with a view to have sect members assist the community to counter their attackers” and that Mungiki members were meeting “in an undisclosed location in Nairobi with a view to carrying revenge attacks on Luos/Kalenjins travelling along Nairobi-Naivasha highway on undisclosed date.”

On 15 January, NSIS was informed that Mungiki members were planning to discredit the Government by instigating chaos in Nairobi and Nakuru “while others would raid Kamiti and Naivasha Prisons to rescue their colleagues held there among them [Maina] Njenga.” This supported information presented to Waki team in camera by a senior police officer in Naivasha who had learned on 9 January that “there was a likelihood of the so-called mungiki making a way into prison with the intention of whisking away the chairman [Mr. Maina Njenga] who is currently held in that particular prison.”

Witnesses also informed the Commission that there had been several planning meetings that had been convened in the Kikuyu-dominated parts of the Central Province/Rift Valley Province border. These meetings had been used to recruit fighters, to coordinate communal violence and to organize funding.

There have been reports that a pastor, a former MP and sitting one urged people to take up arms in self-defense in the Limuru area. The allegation is corroborated by the intelligence reports covering the period between 15th January to 15th February, 2008, in a mammoth rally attended by some Kikuyu MPs and politicians.

FM stations broadcasting in vernacular were also adversely mentioned in the Waki Report on post-election violence. It recommended that authorities should investigate media houses accused of disseminating irresponsible information the culprits
Kass FM, which broadcasts in Kalenjin, Inooro (Kikuyu) and Lolwe FM (Luo) were among stations mentioned, the commission said in its report released yesterday.

Kameme and Coro FM, all broadcasting in Kikuyu, were also named by the report as among those cited by witnesses for using derogatory language. So far only Kass Frm broadcaster, Mr Joshua Shang has been implicated.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

KENYA & ICC: VICTIMS GRANTED STATUS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONFIRMATION OF CHARGES AT THE HAGUE

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By Dickens Wasonga.

Only 327 people have been picked as victims by the International Criminal Court which is seeking to punish those who are suspected to have been behind the post poll chaos that rocked the country in 2008.

According to Maria Kamara, the ICC’s field outreach coordinator , those were the people who got the approval of the pre -trial chamber judges as victims authorized to participate in the confirmation of charges proceedings at the Hague.

Speaking at a Kisumu hotel on Tuesday during a workshop for journalists covering ICC issues Kamara disclosed that the selected victims were amongst several Kenyans who had indicated interest of participation in the process and did so voluntarily.

She stated that although they have been picked by the judges , they will be represented by a legal team that will be put together and who will travel to represent them at the Hague.

Kamara pointed out that those victims will not have to be present during the confirmation hearings slated for next month and in October where the six suspects will get the opportunity to make a statement on the charges facing them

The first team to appear for the confirmation schedule for September 1st will be the suspects from ODM side of the coalition and includes the suspended higher education minister William Ruto, Kass FM journalist Joshua San’g and Tinderet MP Henry Kosgei.

The other group who includes ambassador Francis Muthaura[ Secretary to the Cabinet] , Hussien Ali [ postmaster Genral] and Uhuru Kenyatta [deputy prime minister] will appear in October.

The coordinator said the victims were picked after a visit to all the hot spot areas and IDP camps by a team of officers from the court’s victim’s participation and reparation division who also held consultations with victims from affected communities.

” Many people indicated interest in taking part in the process, they completed forms provided by the ICC teams and the same was handed over to the judges who picked the 327.”

She disclosed that civil society groups from the regions affected most by the poll chaos were involved into mobilizing the people who showed willingness to participate in the process.

Kamara clarified that the confirmation of the charges was not meant to determine whether the suspects were guilty or not but would offer them an opportunity to make a statement.

It would also give the ICC chief prosecutor Moreno Ocampo the chance to give full evidence he has gathered to build hid case.

And she confirmed that there were no provisions within the operations of the ICC that bar accused persons before it from seeking any political office.

” That is a constitutional matter that each country can address and the court has nothing to do with the political ambitions of those under trial should the charges be confirmed”.said Kamara.

She was reacting to concerns raised by journalists who wanted to know if the confirmation of the charges could stop the suspects from running in the 2012 elections.

This is considering that two of the suspects, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto are presidential hopefuls.

The two have been on a campaign trail and appear not bothered about the impending trails at the Hague.

However according to analysts the duo may not be out of the woods yet especially if the charges were to be confirmed.

They opined that any Kenyan would go to court and seek its interpretation of the constitution.Besides, ICC does not have a time frame of cases before it as long as there is no indication of a deliberate move to delay the proceedings.

That means if the charges are confirmed, the cases could go beyond the set dates for the general elections in Kenya thus complicating matters for Ruto and Uhuru both of whom are viewed as strong candidates in the G7alliance.

ENDS.

Report: Prosecutor to drop Strauss-Kahn case …….

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from Judy Miriga

Folks,

This will be a serious big mistake. To take the case of Ms. Diallo for granted when truely, facts of Trauss-Kahn’s fluid and other contents were traced and found as evidence on Ms. Nafissatou Diallo case to confirm that some sexual activities truely took place, will be viewed differently by many. Also to deny it, beat all logics.

Whether the act was unwarranted, force or non-consensual is part of a fact that we do not know until proved in court. What we can attest that does not make sense, is issue-based claim of Credibility on the part of Diallo ……How someone can equate this marauding sexual act to determine lack of credibility on the claimant is fuzzy, especially turning away spotlight on the acuser who seemed to have enjoyed his share part in the aggression, dont make sense………..It can be confirmed that the Acused was on the Go without dispute after enjoying himself……but, There are proof and claims provided by Diallo that her territory was invaded without her consent. As a complainant, in all due respect, her case should be fairly heard. Why cant she be given a hearing to determing her credibility and chance to prove her case before it is dismissed under baseless credibility….??? Ms. Diallo as a complainant believed there was an illegallity of tresspassing in
the use of her property and she got polluted, evidence which she proved and formed fact-base reason for her complaint, a fact that cannot be dinied, which is understood to reduce a persons Liberty and dignity. In Diallo’s case, it infringed and flauted her
Property Rights’ and so it should be carefully looked into,…….it will be difficult to avoid facts, so she has a case to prove her point……

If this case is thrown out, dont you think she will have been denied human equal rights to prove her case….., which then she has a right to Appeal for a higher level at the High Courts of Appeal or to the International ICC Hague…. ???

I have a feeling Diallo have a right to be heard……….if not, we have problem………..

This kind of non-consensual act if let loose, is a prescription to
future dangerous turn of events, which we fear, those with big sexual appetite will take advantage to violate and abuse. It will be a free for all to freely access illicit utilization and invasion of personal property Rights.

Therefore this case must fairly command a Justified Ruling and must be concluded without biasness under a non-partisan Court of Appeal or at the ICC Hague……..

This Guinea 32 year old immigrant woman, Ms. Nafissatou Diallo, should not be left to suffer irrepair damage and mental torture alone since this matter is already in public domain. In case this matter is set to be zeroed and be dismissed, it could mean it has been based on discriminatory racial and class factor. It will raise many eyebrows over facts of Racial, Rich and the Poor blame game, and many will begin to ask, if African poor human facilities and properties are free pudding or doses that should be taken for free without consent, that which should be consumed at the take and will of the Super Rich powerful…….and this could demand voices of reason to be louded far and wide for a further fair hearing at a non-partisan High Court of Appeal….. a case which will raise suspecion and view the concluded case negatively as having been influenced by Racial and Class discrimination factor……

The act of an awkward aggression or invasion to satisfy bad sexual appetite gone bad, cannot be qualified or sugar coated with credibility…..Credible or no Credibility, activity occurred and products found as evidence are facts that should carry the case…….it is the two who must determine in court, part of the activity wether, there was a deal or no deal. If no deal, there must have been a one sided-based who freely consumed and enjoyed, causing the other side dissatisfaction, discontent and discomfort……Who is This Person Who Enjoyed someone’s product (mali) without consultation, consent, permission or agreement ……This is the Bone of Contention right here……….this is the reason why Strauss-Kahn was held in detention and consequently resigning………. this case must therefore face a fair trial and judgement people……….It cannot be wishy washed……..

Can Mr. Strauss-Kahn really escape tresspassing and violating humanity territorial injustices without raising diverse voices of concern……??? …. Lets wait and see……!!!

Thank you all,

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Report: Prosecutor to drop Strauss-Kahn case
Attorneys are expected to cite concerns about accuser’s credibility

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair leave their temporary Manhattan residence in New York on July 6.
updated 8/21/2011 1:17:02 PM ET2011-08-21T17:17:02

NEW YORK — Prosecutors will ask a judge to dismiss all charges in the sexual assault case against former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn at a court hearing on Tuesday, the New York Post reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office will file a motion recommending the case be dropped and laying out the chronology of events that led to that point, according to the Post.

Strauss-Kahn, who has denied the allegations, was once seen as a leading contender to be president of France until a maid, Nafissatou Diallo, accused him of sexual assault on May 14 at New York’s Sofitel Hotel. He was arrested and forced to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund a few days later.

The case has teetered since late June when prosecutors disclosed that Diallo, a 32-year-old Guinean immigrant, had lied on her U.S. asylum application and about other aspects of her past.

That revelation threatened her credibility as a witness and led prosecutors to agree to release Strauss-Kahn, 62, from house arrest, though he remains barred from leaving the country. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

The Post reported that the prosecutors’ motion would detail concerns about Diallo’s credibility and make it clear they do not believe they can prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Erin Duggan, the spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, declined to comment, as did Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel Alonso, the office’s top deputy.

Douglas Wigdor, one of Diallo’s lawyers, said he could not confirm the report.

“If the district attorney drops this important case, it will be a major setback for all women who are victims of sexual crimes and no doubt deter others from coming forward,” he said in an email from Paris, where he plans to hold a press conference Tuesday following the court hearing in New York.

Benjamin Brafman, Strauss-Kahn’s attorney, declined to comment Sunday on the report.

Speculation that the charges would be dropped intensified on Saturday, when Diallo’s lawyers said she had been summoned for a meeting with prosecutors on Monday and suggested that it could be a sign that prosecutors were preparing to dismiss.

Even if the charges are dismissed, Strauss-Kahn faces a civil suit filed by Diallo two weeks ago and a complaint filed in France by journalist and writer Tristane Banon, who has alleged that he tried to rape her in 2002. Authorities in Paris are considering whether to press charges in that case.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutions have been praised by human rights advocates. At the same time, the ICC Prosecutor’s choice of cases and the perception that the Court has disproportionately focused on Africa have been controversial. Congressional interest in the work of the ICC in Africa has arisen in connection with concerns over gross human rights violations on the African continent and beyond, along with broader concerns over ICC jurisdiction and U.S. policy toward the Court. This report provides background on current ICC cases and examines issues raised by the ICC’s actions in Africa.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34665.pdf

Kenya & ICC: International Criminal Court Cases in Africa: Status and Policy Issues

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From: Yona Maro

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutions have been praised by human rights advocates. At the same time, the ICC Prosecutor’s choice of cases and the perception that the Court has disproportionately focused on Africa have been controversial. Congressional interest in the work of the ICC in Africa has arisen in connection with concerns over gross human rights violations on the African continent and beyond, along with broader concerns over ICC jurisdiction and U.S. policy toward the Court. This report provides background on current ICC cases and examines issues raised by the ICC’s actions in Africa.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34665.pdf

—
Kwa Nafasi za Kazi kila siku www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

http://worldngojobs.blogspot.com/ Nafasi za Kazi Kimataifa

Kenya: Kibaki Furious Over Ocampo’s Evidence… // …Kenya: Firm Forced to Halt Minerals Search

2 Replies

from Judy Miriga

Folks,

Yes, it is 7 (seven) more days to go people……..be prepared……..This is not a drama, ICC with Ocampo is real…….something we must all energize to fruitation……and without pulling back…….

Like I said before, the too many MoUssss Agreement that were signed by Kibaki, Uhuru, Raila, Kalonzo, Prof. Anyang Nyongo……etc., giving the Special Interests Cartels free access to Public Taxpayer and Facilities, Natural Resources and potentials……has compromised them so much that they cannot see the International Special Interests investors in the eye to tell them, they srewed……..It is us people, it is us to step in and the two Principles MUST desolve the coalition government in the next few days before August 28th 2011……..

To get involved in the Interim Caretaker Commission require committed souls who know Way Forward to save Kenya in a short space of time, I am very ready for it, what about you……????

Cheers ….. !!!

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Kenya: Kibaki Furious Over Ocampo’s Evidence
Emeka-Mayaka Gekara

20 August 2011

Nairobi — Anger and frustration greeted International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s disclosure of his last bundle of evidence against three eminent Kenyans facing crimes against humanity cases at The Hague.

Sources told the Sunday Nation that President Kibaki and his allies were on Saturday furious over the allegations that State House facilitated the post-election violence.
State House has denied the allegations.

The prosecutor’s State House allegations are being interpreted in some quarters as targeting its chief tenant, the President. Notably, one of the suspects, Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura is the President’s permanent secretary and confidant.
However, Mr Moreno-Ocampo is on record saying that he had no evidence linking President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to the violence.

The disclosure late on Friday set off crisis meetings by defence lawyers who seemed to have been taken by surprise by Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s latest evidence. Our inquiries returned a picture of disillusionment by those around Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Muthaura and Post-Master General Hussein Ali.

The prosecutor seems to have caught the suspects and their defence teams off-guard when he confronted them with new evidence only a few days to the confirmation hearings next month, effectively returning them to the drawing board.

A source at State House told the Sunday Nation that the “mood had changed” in the official presidential residence following Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s Friday allegations (Read: Dossier links State House to chaos) that the place was used as a base of planning retaliatory attacks by Mungiki in Nakuru and Naivasha during the post-election violence.
Besides, the prosecutor’s narrative took a dramatic turn when it appeared to implicate Kenya’s military in the 2008 post-election violence saying that Mungiki members were transported from State House to Naivasha in military trucks.

There were strong indications that the defence teams may apply for more time to review the new evidence ahead of the confirmation hearings.

Change tack

“The case has fundamentally changed. We have to change tack because Mr Moreno-Ocampo has shifted goal posts and radically altered his prosecution theory in this case,” said a source close to one of the suspects who spoke under the cover of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

He pointed out that the prosecutor seemed determined to push the case to trial.

Already, Mr Kenyatta and Maj-Gen Ali’s lawyer’s who have lost a long list of battles with the prosecutor in the past couple of months, have cried foul over the process claiming it was being used to “rubber-stamp” charges against the suspects.

A picture emerges in which successes of defence teams have been decreasing in the run up to the confirmation of charges hearings, an issue that is causing discomfort.

Just last week, they lost the battle to have the number of witnesses increased from two.
The suspects’ effort to have the hours accorded to the witnesses increased was also rejected.

Earlier, an application by lawyers for Eldoret North William Ruto and Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey to have the hearings postponed was defeated. Moreover, Judge Ekaterina Frendiflova has so far not allowed any application for leave of appeal.

“The order of the single judge (on the witness limit) will significantly affect the outcome of the trial in the sense that such a restriction upon the defence to counter the evidence of the prosecutor using persuasive, probative live testimony risks turning the confirmation process into a rubber-stamping of the charges against the suspects,” protested Mr Kenyatta’s lawyers, Mr Steven Kay and Ms Gillian Higgins.

They accused the court of handling the matter as if it had already been decided on before those affected would make their contributions, leaving them with no option but to accept the outcome.

“The confirmation hearing should not be treated as a fait accompli,” they said.
Perhaps as a sign of the frustration, one of Maj Gen Ali’s lawyers, Mr Otachi Bw’ Onwon’ga, has questioned the command responsibility doctrine as applied by international tribunals and the calibre and sources of evidence accepted.

He said evidence can include diaries, letters and press reports which can be used to sanction suspects.

Confirmation hearings for Mr Kenyatta, Mr Muthaura and Maj Gen Ali are set for September 21 to October 11 and the court has indicated the decision on whether the cases will be confirmed will be reached two months after the hearings.
The other three suspects, Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Joshua arap Sang, will have their confirmation hearings from September 1, 2011.

Mr Kenyatta’s political career might be in the balance if the case is confirmed. The same fate would befall Mr Ruto and Mr Kosgey.

Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto have declared their intentions to contest the presidency, with Mr Kenyatta touted as President Kibaki’s heir apparent by the central Kenya power elite.
Sources close to the defence teams indicated that there were considerable differences between the evidence the prosecutor submitted in his applications seeking permission to investigate the Kenyan case and the one released on Friday.

In his last batch of evidence, the prosecutor has refined the controversial issue of alleged meetings between the Mungiki criminal gang, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura.
Whereas in the past he spoke of the meetings being held to plan retaliatory attacks before the 2007 election he now says the raids occurred after the polls.

In the prosecutor’s application of December 15, last year, he alleged that there was lack of police intervention before, during and after the attacks in Nakuru and Naivasha.
Now the prosecution seems to suggest that the police intervention was inadequate.

Uniforms and weapons

For the first time, the prosecution alleges that Mr Muthaura together with Mr Kenyatta provided uniforms and weapons to the Mungiki.

One of the new pieces of evidence alleges that after the election, the police under Maj-Gen Ali’s leadership killed several Mungiki leaders with the intention of eliminating evidence.

“Police specifically targeted Mungiki leaders with knowledge of the involvement of Mr Kenyatta and other PNU politicians in the planning of the post-election violence and reported to senior Kenya Police officers, including Ali,” alleges the prosecutor.

Mr Kenyatta is accused of facilitating Mungiki gangs to organise retaliatory attacks against perceived ODM supporters in the Rift Valley.

It is alleged that the primary purpose of the attacks was to strengthen the PNU hold on power after the swearing-in of the President.

It is further alleged that the recruitment, mobilisation and payment of pro-PNU youth to participate in the retaliatory attacks in Naivasha and Nakuru were carried out in Kanu offices. Mr Kenyatta is the Kanu chairman.

The ICC prosecutor claims that Mr Kenyatta specifically tasked a former Kanu MP to organise the Nakuru operations, thereby placing the Mungiki under a responsible command.

“He directly provided funding for Mungiki operations during the post-election violence or provided information as to where to secure funding. In preparation for the attacks, Mr Kenyatta was also responsible for arming and providing transportation for pro-PNU youth.”

Mr Moreno-Ocampo alleges that, Mr Ruto and Mr Kosgey were in charge of a network with military structure which planned financed the eviction of the Kikuyu, Kamba and Kisii from in Rift Valley in the 2008 post-election violence.

Kenya: Dossier Links State House to Chaos
Oliver Mathenge

19 August 2011

Members of the outlawed Mungiki sect were transported to State House to plan revenge attacks at the height of the post-election violence, according to new prosecution evidence released from The Hague on Friday.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo alleges that members of the illegal group were later transported to Nakuru and Naivasha in military trucks to carry out killings at the height of the murderous violence that followed the infamous 2007 General Election. (Read: How Ocampo plans to implicate Uhuru and group)

This is some of the evidence that Mr Moreno-Ocampo will rely on to try and convince Judges Ekaterina Trendafilova, Peter Hans-Kohl and Cuno Tarfusser to commit Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Civil Service head Francis Muthaura and Postmaster General Hussein Ali to full trial for crimes against humanity.

State House yesterday said the reports were recklesss, baseless and untrue. “As we have said earlier no meeting ever took place at State House with any member of the Mungiki.

The Ocampo reference to State House meetings is therefore far fetched and a blatant lie,” a statement said.

Eldoret North MP William Ruto and Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey will also answer to charges of organising a militia which allegedly killed and evicted PNU supporters from areas in Uasin Gishu and Nandi counties.

Radio presenter Joshua Sang faces charges amounting to spreading hate speech and directing warriors where to strike.

Their confirmation hearings start on September 1.

The prosecutor says Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura held fundraising meetings and financed the armed gang which carried out revenge attacks in Nakuru and Naivasha.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo will also tell the pre-trial chamber that the State House in Nakuru and Kanu offices in the town were used as bases.

Mr Ali will be accused of failing to prevent crimes by the members of the outlawed Mungiki sect while he had prior knowledge of the planned attacks on pro-ODM supporters.

The document filed by the prosecutor on Friday says Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura participated in a series of activities, including preparatory meetings to mobilise, coordinate, finance and provide logistical support for the Mungiki.

“Key preparatory meetings include those held in Nairobi on or about December 30, 2007 and in early, mid and late January 2008. There were also preparatory meetings in Central Province on or about December 31, 2007, in Nakuru in early to mid January 2008 and in Naivasha in late January 2008,” Mr Moreno-Ocampo says in the document.

It adds that in the meetings, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura enlisted the services of Mungiki leaders and concluded plans for the launching of retaliatory attacks in the Rift Valley.

It adds that the recruitment, mobilisation and payment of pro-PNU youth to participate in the Naivasha and Nakuru attacks were carried out in offices belonging to Kanu.
The dossier also says Mr Kenyatta specifically tasked a former Kanu MP to organise the Nakuru operations, thereby placing the Mungiki under a responsible command.

The former MP is also said to have directly provided funding for Mungiki operations during the violence or provided information where to secure funding.

In preparation for the attacks, Mr Kenyatta is also said to have been responsible for arming and providing transport for pro-PNU youth.

“At all times, relevant to the crimes charged, Mr Kenyatta had the capacity to mobilise and influence Mungiki members who in turn received protection and patronage from him. Mr Kenyatta had control over the Mungiki, in part due to his wealth and privileged background,” the document says.

The dossier claims that Mungiki members were driven through secret routes to State House in Nairobi where they were given Administration Police uniforms before proceeding to Naivasha.

“The Mungiki members were then transported from the State House to Naivasha in military trucks by men wearing Kenyan army uniforms. The trucks contained new machetes as well as wooden clubs which the Mungiki were instructed to use,” the document says.
In one of the meetings in Nairobi in early January 2008, the dossier says, Mr Muthaura requested Mungiki leaders to deploy their members to the Rift Valley to carry out revenge attacks.

It says that during the meeting, he placed a phone call to Gen Ali to instruct him to ensure that pro-PNU youth would not be prevented from going into the Rift Valley.
“During another phone conversation with Ali in mid January 2008, Muthaura reminded Ali that the Mungiki were working with them and ordered him not to arrest them,” the dossier says.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo says that available evidence indicates that the Mungiki and pro-PNU youth attacked in a well-organised and regimented manner and that they communicated in Kikuyu and mainly targeted perceived ODM supporters.

“As part of their contribution to the attacks, the Kenya Police granted Mungiki members and pro-PNU youth being transported from other provinces unhindered passage into Nakuru town,” the dossier says linking Mr Ali to the slow and uncoordinated response by the police.

Kenya: Firm Forced to Halt Minerals Search
Bozo Jenje
21 August 2011

A mining firm has stopped prospecting at Mrima Hills in Kwale County after protests from the local community.

The South African company incorporated in Kenya bowed to pressure at a stakeholders’ meeting at Mamba Methodist church and agreed to halt activities until consultations were done.

Mr Yunis Shaik, a director of Pacific Wildcat, a partner of Cortec Mining Kenya, said the company was abiding by a environmental ministry directive to stop prospecting until all disputes were resolved.

“We are aware that residents at Mrima Hill fear being displaced or being exposed to radiation and interference with sacred forests,” he said.

Rare earth metals

Mr Shaik said Cortec Mining Kenya is searching for high grade niobium and rare earth metals.

“We do not want to upset the community and undermine the political leadership. Our aim is to improve the economy,” he said.

Mr Shaik admitted that all stakeholders were not consulted in initial exploration activities.

“We apologise for this and I take responsibility,” he said.

“It is not our intention to take your land, destroy sacred forests or evict people. Ours aim is to better the community by providing infrastructure,” he said.

Lunga Lunga District Officer Fredrick Masinjila said resistance to the project was a result of the company’s failure to consult the provincial administration.

“The company never consulted the local administration. They thought they could get away with doing things without following the proper channels,” Mr Masinjia said.

National Environmental Management Authority official Godfrey Wafula said the agency had not granted the firm a mining licence.

“We will only issue a licence once the Environmental Impact Assessment is done,” he said.

Mr Wafula said Nema would not allow the community to suffer at the expense of investors.

“Nema will weigh the benefits and decide to licence the project or not,” he said.

Kwale World Wildlife Fund project official Elias Kimaru said the company had made the right decision.

“Now the rights of the people will be observed in the all-inclusive and transparent process,” he said.

Nominated councillor Murabu Chaka urged residents to be calm as the parties involved thrashed out the issue.

He said the community had resolved that the project could not be forced on to them.

“The Mrima Hills is sacred to us. During the second world war, a virgin was slaughtered at the top of the hill to stop the war between the Germans and British. Our gods are there,” he said.

Dzombo councillor Benson Mtangeli said he opposed the project due to the radioactivity.

“We are the custodians of the land and are not ready to accept any developments without our views being heard,” he said.

Business Daily (Nairobi)
Kenya: We Should Stop Blaming Nature for Famine Disaster
21 August 2011

Our policymakers must have cringed last week when the announcement came, but the World Bank hit the nail on the head when it said that the famine gripping the Horn of Africa region was man-made.

According to the bank’s lead economist, the famine is as a result of artificially high prices for food and civil conflict in the region.He insisted that droughts have hit the region many times yet as a result of poor policymaking, the end result has always been famineThe current drought has affected millions of people in the region with Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti being the hardest hit.

The bank blamed high cereals prices for contributing to the problem and accused a small group in Kenya of controlling the market, thus keeping the prices beyond the reach of the majority.

The World Bank said that maize prices in Kenya were between 60 and 70 per cent higher than the world’s average.

This cartel-like behavior is unacceptable. How can a few reap millions of shillings as millions of Kenyans go without food?

What annoys many is that our government officials are still dillydallying, insisting that no one has starved to death yet what Kenyans see in the media tells a different story.

As a result of high food and energy prices around the world, the inflationary pressure has increased, exerted more pressure on millions around the globe, especially the developing world.

Already parts of Kenya are experiencing heavy rainfall, but despite years of being told to promote rain harvesting methods, the rain water is just being allowed to go to waste. In the flood-prone areas, the same song is being repeated. This only begs the question: when will our policymakers ever learn?

What is so hard about ensuring that food deficit regions receive adequate supplies from the bread basket regions of the country?

It really pains one to see farmers in one section of the country complaining that they there is no market for their produce yet in another part of the country scores of people are starving. It’s time the government walked the talk.

ICC & Kenya: Don’t mistake my visit to Hague

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From: Elijah Kombo

I will be at the Hague come September and more importantly during the days of the hearings of the Ocampo Six. I intend to meet the six fellows who have be accused for crimes against humanity and human rights violations. I will have coffee with them and probably go site seeing before facing the bearded man.

We all know that Ocampo is almost failing to do his job. And if he fails to fix those who actually caused the violence, then he needs to tell us what steps he has taken to those who have caused hunger and famine in Somalia.

Just like a clever rabbit, i will scare the judges ‘My names are Kombo Elijah Ogaro Rakamba Mogire Jaduong Ondare, son of a prominent Kenyan born in 1975 and fought for independence from wazungus like you here keeping jobs to hear African cases. I am an Elected member of Parliament courtesy of the Kenya People. I am also the deputy Vice President of the Republic of Kenya courtesy of a duly elected Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Odinga. I hold a PhD courtesy of the University of Pittsburg. I am experienced in public finance and forensic auditing. I must add that this is the reason Ocampo has politicised the post election violence for reasons best know to him and his masters. I am ging for presidency to challenge Raila Odinga and that is why he and Ocampo have concocted evidence against me”.

“First before i introduce myself further, i don’t why i have to be dragged from Kenya to this court. I did nothing i can remember. I participated in a harambee to assist people purchase farm equipment. Its was not my job to know where they were going to use the items. I am shocked by these outrageous allegations’.

The submissions will go on and on……

I will be ready at the lobby to serve the G7 some chabazi na mandondo o condition that they must be adorned in caps with stripes of Kenyan flag. They must sing the national anthem with hand folded, mouth wide open and voices drowning in a flog style noise from a nearby swamp in Rionuti.

This time, i suspect the 21 MPs who accompanied Ocampo six during first hearing will walk away disappointed. Infact not so many of them will go. They have debts at KRA and therefore too broke to affrod a plane ticket to the Hague. I will rescue them to find cheap accommodation near the red street. Its cheap with full package. After-all why should they get off the Hague and hang out at Koinange street

I await that time, and i will be waiting at Den Hague where it will happen.

Kombo Elijah

Ugandan to chair hearing of ICC case

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from Judy Miriga

Folks,

This is madness people.

If it is the Uganda Government which is suspected to have stolen Migingo and Ugingo, is suspected to be working in liaison and in cohort with the corrupt Coalition Government under MoUs, and with Muamar Gaddaffi to steal Natural Resources of Lake Victoria and the surrounding areas with Chinese leading in unscrupulous business aggression invasion of “Intellectual Property Thieving” with the help of Devani, Kamlesh Patni, and others who are seen engaging in Economic flight of Kenya to China etc.,, while inducing excessisve poverty to the common Mwanainchi through suspected Ponzi Schemes, HOW safe will a Judge whose close relations with Museveni intervene and help Kenya in the same case secenario……….sending an Agent of THIEVERS to protect their THIEVING……..Where have you seen this happening anywhere in the world except in Kenya……..

You do not send someone from a highly suspecting environment…..nothing will be different from “JOKA JOKA”…….”Those Same Old Same Old People”……

The ICC Must get their acts rights, the community of Kenya are not goats…….

ICC Hauge should do better than that if they truely want us to move forward…….we are aware of LOBBYISTS but however mighty and big, Kenyans will not be shaken…..It is because, The Truth, Nothing But The Truth, Shall Set Us All Free…….!

Share the attachments AND ……We will keep on keeping on BUT……..

Wake up people……..!

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Ugandan to chair hearing of ICC case

By Evelyn Kwamboka

The International Criminal Court has appointed a judge from Uganda to preside over the appeal lodged by the Kenya Government.

Justice Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko will lead the Bench in making a decision that would seal the Government’s bid to have the six post-election violence suspects tried in Kenya.
The president of the court’s Appeals Division, Judge Anita Usacka, made the announcement.

Justice Nsereko holds Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of East Africa in Tanzania and Master of Laws (LLM) from New York University.

The 70-year-old judge has comprehensive experience in criminal law and procedure as a practitioner and an academic.

He will lead the team comprising the ICC President Sang-Hyun Song.

The appeal filed under Rome Statute Article 82 (1) (a) would be the first ever to be handled by the court.

The president and his team will either over turn or uphold the decision made by Pre-Trial Chamber II.

Other judges in the Bench are Akua Kuenyehia and Erkki Korurula.

The Government’s appeal is aimed at overturning the Pre-Trial Chamber II’s decision that declared cases against the suspects admissible.

The alternative

In the alternative, the Government wants the Appeals Chamber to return the matter to the existing — or a reconstituted — Pre-Trial Chamber to hear and assess evidence on issues of complementarity together with arguments from all parties.

The suspects are Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, Postmaster General Hussein Ali and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang

Wonder not whether Museveni’s cabinet will perform — it is the context, surely!

By Frederick Golooba-Mutebi (email the author)

Posted Sunday, June 5 2011 at 11:51

After weeks of media speculation and punditry, during which ministers and aspiring ministers must have suffered acute anxiety over who was going, staying or coming in, President Yoweri Museveni finally named the people who hopefully will help him run the country.

The hopes expressed in the previous sentence stem from listening several times over the years to what has become something of a conventional wisdom among sections of Museveni watchers, local and non-local: He does a lot of what ministers are supposed to do for them, and mostly ignores his large army of advisors who, as a result, are technically unemployed much of the time.

Indeed, it is said that the reason Uganda has such a large number of ministers, one of the largest in the world, and dozens of presidential advisors, is not because they are all needed for their skills, capacity and experience.

Rather, it is because the appointment of some of them helps the president achieve peculiar political and social ends.

The political ends are manifest in appointing “representatives” of groups that must be rewarded for a whole range of reasons, including voting consistently for the president and the NRM, or deserting the opposition and starting to “vote wisely”.

The importance of these appointments can be read from three common phenomena: Group celebrations, ministerial appointments and reshuffles spark off across the country as communities fete their daughters’ or sons’ good fortunes; protests voiced by groups who feel they have not been “given” the portfolios they deserve; and representations to the president by groups who feel disgruntled because “our children are not appointed ministers yet they are ministerial material”.

It is the real stuff of what those with a knack for labelling things, christened “big-man politics”.

The social ends side of things is just as deeply embedded in the way Ugandan society lives and functions. Having many jobs to hand out allows the president to take care of different types of people.

First, there are those who at strategic moments attach themselves to him and make themselves useful in one way or another, and then wait to be rewarded.

Kampala’s former mayor, Al-Hajji Nasser Ntege Ssebaggala, who recently claimed the official mayoral residence as part of his retirement package, earned himself a nomination as minister without portfolio for his role as Museveni’s gofer during the last presidential campaigns.

Not too long ago, someone who should know told me a story about one chap who, having picked up a rumour that he would be removed from the position he occupied at the time, ran off in a panic to meet the president.

As soon as he was granted audience, he broke down and allowed his tears to flow freely. How would he and his family survive, and how would he send his children to school if his job was taken away? he sobbed. The narrator wanted to use the story to illustrate how generous Museveni could be. Apparently touched by the spectacle before him, he gave the man another job.

And, as in the past, Uganda is once again saddled with another huge number of ministers. It was inevitable. According to the national electoral commission’s figures, during the recent elections all regions united behind Museveni for the first time since he started running for office.

So elated was he that during his swearing-in ceremony he spoke of the “political maturity” of Ugandans.

And so our maturity has given us a huge “cabinet of national unity”.

The more interesting thing is that alongside the reward brigade are really inspired choices. Some commentators have used them to conclude that this is Museveni’s best cabinet.

They look at the new Minister of Finance, Maria Kiwanuka, the deputy Minister for Higher Education, JC Muyingo, and the Minister of Health, Christine Ondoa, all real-life high achievers, and feel optimistic about the future.

It seems reasonable to say, “they are going to be real performers”. But lest we forget, Museveni has always appointed some really smart people to his cabinets.

Indeed, without naming names, the cabinet he has just replaced had many sharp minds in it who, before becoming ministers, had solid records of achievement behind them.

True, few have been roaring successes wherever he chose to throw them. They failed not because they were unqualified or incompetent. It was simply because of the context they happened to be working in and the nature and motivations of the government they were serving.

As we debate who will perform and who won’t, let’s also ask whether those things will also change.

Kenya & ICC: Kibaki and PM Raila Dancing as Ocampo Watches…….

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from Judy Miriga

Folks,

It is uniquely fiasco and drama in the Galore…….!

Really and Truely Funny……

Have An Easy Monday…..will you……!

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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Kibaki-Raila Dance 4 Ocampo

If you didn’t know that Kibaki and Raila can form a dance group, you are about to know if you haven’t watched this video clip, and if you already watched now you know. This is a short clip of the ….. project coming soon you can post your comments to make us better.

Moi’s Last Dance

BBC World Have Your Say: ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo answers your questions

This programme was broadcast on BBC World News on 20 May 2011. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court answered your questions ranging from the calls for an arrest warrant for Colonal Gaddafi to his plans to carry out an investigation in Ivory Coast and everything in between

ICC & Africa: Ocampo says ‘I am Prosecutor for Africans

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From: Elijah Kombo

Is your job stressful Mr Ocampo?…Infact i love my job. I protect the rape victims, i prosecute the murderers, i am happy with my job

How did you arrive at Ocampo 6 and yet you didn’t mention who was responsible for the massacre in Kibera, Kenya? …. I have Muthaura and General Ali to answer that at the Hague when we begin in September.

Mr Ocampo, you are intimidating Africans and Muslim leaders. Why the biasness in your indictment? Lybia and not Syria?

In fact, i am the prosecutor for Africans victims. I protect Africans. I only do my job in countries that are part of the Rome Statute. I am not authorized to prosecute people from countries that are not part of this. However, I also prosecute people whom i have been given by the United Nation Security Council.

WATCH BBC now WHYS

KENYA: RAILA AND OBAMA ARE TAKING RUTO AND UHURU KENYATTA TO THE ICC AT THE HAGUE CLAIM THE TWO ”PRESIDENTIAL FRONT-RUNNERS!”

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What a falacy!

Kenya’s Parliament Hansard confirms that these two actively campaigned against a local tribunal in favour of The ICC at The Hague whereas Raila Amolo Odinga was for the local tribunal.

In their rallies all over the country Uhuru Kenyatta pauses to ask ”Kwani Hague ni mama yake Raila?” This is the lowest insult one could direct at another person no matter how one is full of hatred. This is how low Uhuru Kenyatta has downgraded his boss, Raila Amolo Odinga. Decorum demands that civilised people be not foulmouthed. Yet Uhuru Kenyatta seems not to realise this. Such abuses are only excusable when they come from lunatics or drunkards as opposed to a .prime minister-cum-minister for finance.

Both of them are presidential ”front-runners” for the 2012 presidential elections!! How do expect Kenyans to vote for them? They should check on their language and integrity, let alone what their body language is desparately portraying.

DR. ODIDA OKUTHE.

KENYA & ICC: WILLIAM RUTO AND CORRUPTION IN KENYA

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From: gordon teti

To William Ruto & Supporters,

The most important lesson that the world has learnt from Ruto’s case in respect to the forest land fraud is that Kenyan courts have no independence.

While facts will never be eroded that forest land was sold and money paid out, the PNU took Ruto to Court in 2008 when he was in the opposite political spectrum; now that Ruto is the spanner boy of the Kikuyu political elites, the court that PNU was using to cut Ruto into size is now no longer fashionable since Ruto is pushing KKK agenda.

The timing of the conclusion of the case, two days after Ruto came back from the Hague and a day after Ruto had a big show of political force in a rally that was attended by idle youths, in a nutshell was meant to solidify KKK support and base.

It was also aimed at the International Criminal Court at the Hague hoping that it will influence the perception of the judges. Yes, the truth is that both the rally on Monday and what happened in Court on Tuesday will heavily influence the minds of the judges at ICC, not to Ruto’s benefit.

The decision made by the Kenyan court to throw away a case so straight forward against Ruto and company, in a case so obvious that forest land was sold and a lot of millions was paid out, something that was confirmed by Kulei,one of the suspects who had opted for a deal with government, proved to the world that the Hague is the only court that can try Ruto impartially without political manipulation

Kenyans shocked and puzzled when Uhuru and Ruto hired foreign lawyers to defend them at the ICC

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City

THOUSANDS of Kenyans who watched the live television coverage from the court room when the “Six Ocampo” suspects made their first appearance before he ICC judges last Thursday and Friday to be told of the impeding criminal charges against them hired the leading teams of lawyer from the UK and Canada.

IT was indeed puzzling that when two of the six suspects, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and the suspended Minister for Higher Education and the MP for Eldoret North William Samoei Arap Ruto, made an appearance before the ICC judges they had their leading lawyers hired from foreign countries of Great Britain and Canada.

When the gongs proved to be too tough for the erstwhile chest thumping and arrogant Kenyan politicians with Luis Moreno Ocampo, the ICC prosecutor was not mincing his words about the evidence he will be adducing to the court, they run to foreign lawyers for help instead of engaging local Kenyans lawyer who are equally highly competent.

This is so, because prior to the trip to the Hague, the two politicians and their troop soldiers, comprised a number of hired MPs, while criss crossing the country had told a series of rallies called to drum up tribal and ethnic support against the ICC trials, had faulted the Prime Minister Raila Odinga for having suggested that Kenya should source its new Chief Justice from a commonwealth country to hold the office temporarily during the judicial reform process.

Odinga had also suggested that Kenya should invite a competent team of police investigators from a reputed and credible police force like the FBI to carry as thorough investigation on pending cases of post election violence.

For the political expediency and in order to gain cheap political mileage, Kenyatta and Ruto came out with their blasting guns and accused Raila Oding of advocating o a neo-colonialism system rule in Kenya after nearly 49 years of independence and yet the country had enough experts to handle its own affairs without resorting for expertise help from foreign countries.

Kenyatta and Ruto said Odinga was calling for foreign help because he had no confidence on Kenyan qualified personnel and local experts on these fields. And even the highly respected former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta while offering prayers and blessing to her son Uhuru and his newly found political friend in amorphous alliance under the so-called KK tribal outfit had chided at the foreign whites for having caused her family a lot of suffering over 59 years ago, and were still out to disturb her people.

Surely, how comes within only two weeks after the two had made the most highlighted remarks about hiring of foreign experts as suggested by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the two now turn up and the umbrella of foreign lawyers, the so-called Queens Councilors. Did they mean that Kenya had no legal experts they should rely on? Or these remarks were just simply empty political slogans and common political gimmicks?.

The last week’s first appearances of the Ocampo Six” before the ICC judges at The Hague had exposed President Kibaki government to its most severance criticisms for allegedly spitting on the old wounds of the victim of the politically motivated post-election violence of 2007 and 2008.

Civic society leaders, from Kenya who were in attending a conference at The Hague at the material time said they were not clearly amused by the manner in which Kenyans MPs had taken over the ICC court in showing the solidarity with their colleagues.

They said, in a statement presented to the conference, that both the MPs and the government of Kenya had clearly demonstrated that they lacked concern about the victims of the violence, the majority who lost their loved ones and those still languishing in the Internally Displaced Persons Camps {IDP} in a very inhuman and degrading conditions.

The civic leaders said the MPs supporting the suspects have never been so vocal on the concerns of the victims whom they represent.

“The government and politicians must stop spitting on the wounds of the victim; no political statements, rallies, cheering squads or ethnic balkanization can bring justice to the victims,” they said in a statement read out at the entrance of the ICC buildings in The Hague last Thursday.

Human rights activists made the statement before Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura and Mohamed Hussein Ali appeared before the court last Friday. They included Human Rights Commission of Kenya’s Esther Waweru,COVAW’s Lydia Munyiva,Kituo Cha Sheria’s Martin Ouma, International Center for Policy and Conflict’s Kasiva Muli, ICJ’s,Stella Ndungu and ICTJ’s Christine Alai all of them lawyers in Kenya.

The group chided the government of Kenya for allegedly pulling out all stops to derail the post=election violence cases. The Inadmissibility challenge, they added, is another attempt by the government to impede accountability efforts. It is ell calculated to derail the ICC process.”

“It is alarming that the government of Kenya has chosen to stand on the side of its allies expending resources through futile diplomacy shuttle diplomacy to pursue deferral of the cases, an intention to provide time and resources to the suspects and now an application challenging the ICC jurisdictions after all avenues have been closed.” says the statement faxed back home to newsmen in Kenya.

Ends

ICC & Kenya: President Kibaki allies finally appeared before the ICC court at the Hague to answer violence charges

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writes Leo Odera Omolo

Thousands of Kenya who glued their eyes on Television sets eagerly waiting to see how the senior most top government officials would react to questions put to them by the trial judges at the Hague.

To their disbelief, the three top official who included the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, the Head of Public Service and the Secretary to the Cabinet Ambassador Francis Muthaura and the former Commissioner of Police Maj-Gen Mohamed Husssein Ali finaly appeared before judges accompanied by batteries of highly esteemed criminal lawyers from Great Britain, Canada and Kenya.

But back at home in Kenya is mounting opinion that the three must step aside and relinquished their offices while awaiting for their eventual trial. Recent speeches in a series of rallies conducted by some of them showed to total defiance on thee part to that effect, particularly the Deputy Prime Minster Uhuru Kenyatta who has arrogantly and repeatedly insisted that he would continue working as normal.

Kenyans who gave interviews to the various TV ,radio and newspaper were unanimous that now that the three have appeared before a court of law on serious criminal charges against humanity, they must step aside and wait until the end of their trial. If found not gulty then they will eventually be reinstated on their jobs respectively.

This is the first time when President Kibaki’s allies appeared before the International Criminal Court to answer to accusations of crimes against humanity. The crimes were allegedly committed to crush opposition protests against his 2007 disputed re-election.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and Postmaster General Hussein Ali, who was the police chief during the 2007/2008 post-election violence, made their initial appearance at The Hague Friday.

They appeared only hours before the United Nations Security Council in New York met to deliberate on Kenya’s request for a deferral of the cases by a year.

The unsettling eventuality, of his trusted aides being hauled before a foreign court on alleged international crimes that President Kibaki had fought so hard to forestall, including a plea to the UN Security Council and a challenge to ICC’s jurisdiction, came to pass.

Mr Muthaura, Mr Uhuru and Maj- Gen (Rtd) Ali are alleged to have directed police and Mungiki attacks on ODM supporters between January 24 and January 30, 2008, in Nakuru and Naivasha towns, to suppress protests sparked by the declaration of President Kibaki as winner of the disputed December 27, 2007 presidential vote.

Same Court

Eldoeret North MP, William Ruto, Tinderet MP, Henry Kosgey, and Kass FM radio presenter, Joshua arap Sang, appeared before the same court on Thursday.

Muthaura, Ali and Uhuru faced five counts of crimes against humanity – murder, forcible transfer of populations, rape, other inhumane acts, and persecution.

Confirmation of charges hearings would be on September 21. A status conference will be held on April 18, at which the prosecutor will make available to the defence teams the evidence he has against the three.

The ICC issued a stern warning to the trio, just like it did to Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang, that they risked arrest if they sustained statements that could trigger fresh violence.

On The Radar

Presiding judge of Pre-Trial Chamber II Justice Ekaterina Trendafilova though did not mention the particular individuals on the radar for hate speech, only noting the caution was based on reports in the Kenyan Press.

In an apparent reference to the anti-ICC campaigns preceding The Hague visit, she warned the trio the court could take the “drastic measures” to substitute summonses with arrest warrants.

“I want to reiterate the concern of the Chamber also raised in yesterday’s proceedings that it came to the knowledge of the Chamber by way of following some articles in the Kenyan newspapers that there are some movements towards triggering fresh violence by way of delivering some dangerous speeches,’’ said Lady Justice Trendafilova.

She added: “I would like to remind the suspects — and I’m not referring to anyone in particular, but this is a general point to be made to all the suspects — that such type of action could be perceived as constituting the breach of one of the conditions set out in the summonses to appear: Namely, to continue committing crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Accordingly, this might prompt the Chamber to replace the summonses to appear with warrants of arrest.”

But Muthaura rushed to clear himself because he did not want to share in the collective blame widely seen as targeting politicians, who had whipped up anti-ICC rhetoric in rallies prior to The Hague appearance.

Adverse Comments

Through his British lawyer, Karim Ahmad Khan, Muthaura told the court he had not made any adverse comments and reiterated his commitment to obey the ICC conditions.

“There is the impression created that some adverse comments have been spoken by Ambassador Muthaura. I don’t want the public to think in any way that anything has been said or done by Muthaura to that effect. I want to assure of his commitment to the conditions set out by the court,” Khan said.

Justice Trendafilova clarified she was not referring to anyone in particular but that was a general caution to all the suspects. She, however, acknowledged the assurance by Muthaura and his “desire to make that clear to the public”.

The three suspects were calm and responded only to the questions put to them, unlike the bid by Ruto and Sang the previous day to raise issues they were not happy about.

Yesterday, it was the defence teams, foreigners among each team, who did most of the talking, directing jibes at Moreno-Ocampo.

Possible Unrest

Ali’s lawyer protested at “extra-judicial comments” by Moreno-Ocampo in Press briefings, such as reference to “possible unrest in Kenya”.

“It is not helpful when the prosecutor makes the extra- judicial comments,” he said.

They sought gag orders against the prosecutor, but the judges said they would decide on the matter while determining the pending application in 21 days.

The lawyer said there ought to be an “understanding between the parties” on how the Press is going to be addressed in the arena.

Earlier Muthaura, Uhuru and Ali were asked to identify themselves, before a court official read out the charges to each one of them. Thereafter the presiding judge informed them of their rights.

Muthaura stared expressionless, as the court official read out the charges to him, but leaned back and sighed as the list went on.

Ali followed proceedings with his right hand resting against the side of his cheek. He is accused of being criminally responsible by contributing to crimes committed against groups of persons, unlike his two co-accused alleged to be indirect co-perpetrators.

Uhuru said he had been informed of the charges against him, through “some press release from the prosecutor’s office” but he acknowledged subsequently a formal notification was delivered from the ICC registrar.

In an uncanny coincidence with history, Uhuru was facing the international crimes charges at The Hague on a date on which his father, the late President Jomo Kenyatta was jailed by colonialists. Kenyatta was jailed for seven years on April 8, 1953, on a Wednesday, after the infamous Kapenguria Six trials. Jomo Kenyatta was that year sentenced to seven years hard labour for his role in the Mau Mau freedom movement.

Different Positions

The court arrangement was slightly different, with Muthaura, Uhuru and Ali sitting in different positions, each with his defence lawyers. Muthaura sat on the left of the judges’ bench with Ali on the side, and Uhuru a row behind.

Ruto, Sang and Kosgey sat together on Thursday.

Earlier, Ali was the first to arrive at the court accompanied by his advocates. Muthaura, who was accompanied by his wife, followed. Uhuru came later holding hands with his wife.

Ruto and Sang were at The Hague in solidarity with their co-accused. But Kosgey was absent.

After the session, the three joined other MPs accompanying them to sing the National Anthem.

The defence lawyers made applications to press for the faster disclosure of the evidence the prosecutor intends to use during confirmation of charges hearings.

And Khan, who in 2006 led the defence for former Liberian President Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, said Moreno-Ocampo should disclose evidence against the suspects “at the minimum in the next hearing”.

“The filing by the Government of Kenya cannot be used to decide to slow down proceedings and prejudice our client’s right to full disclosure,” said Khan.

He was responding to the prosecutor’s remarks that full disclosure is constrained before the determination of the challenge of admissibility of the cases lodged by Kenyan Government.

Stiffer Conditions

The three serving State officers, however, left without stiffer conditions expected following Moreno-Ocampo’s protests they hold influential positions in Government.

Muthaura has stepped down from chairing the National Security Advisory Committee while Uhuru has given up his position in the Witness Protection Board.

Outside the court, Uhuru said:

“We expect nothing short of justice. We now have got the official chance to see what evidence the prosecutor has got against us. Also what we are accused of, and I have no doubt I will prove my innocence,” said Uhuru.

British lawyers Steven Kay and Gilian Kay Higgins represent Mr Kenyatta. The two defended former Yogoslav warlord Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia.

Ali’s lawyers are Evans Monari and Mr Gershom Otachi.

Ends

ICC & Kenya: ICC judge warns the Ocampo Six suspects aganst making hate speeches back home else that may prompt the issuing of warrants of arrests against them

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

Kenya’s first three high profile suspects appearing before International Criminal Court got a stern warning they risk arrest if they sustain statements that may trigger fresh violence back home.

In nearly all major towns throughout Kenya hundreds of thousands of Kenyans remained glued on their Television sets in hotels, restraints,social halls, bars and at home, keenly watching the unfolding events at The Hague during the opening of the criminal cases against the first batch of three of the six suspects, who are facing various criminal charges before the International Court of Criminal of Justice.{icc}

The Kenyans, who included the head of public service, three cabinet ministers, a former commissioner of police and a vernacular radio presenter are facing charges of committing crimes against humanity, causing violence and displacement of thousands of citizens as well as the deaths of close to 1300 in 2008 when violence and mayhem erupted throughout the country following the disputed presidential election of December 2007.

The warning, however, brusque as it was, came without names and was founded on Kenya’s media reports seen by ICC. It was also the day the long and circuitous five-month process went to the next phase, out of probably years if it goes to the trial stage, began with the suspects bracing for what could literally be the battle for their lives and careers. The sombre mood in the courtroom, at least for the suspects sprung from the fact that the charges read to them fell in three categories: murder, forceful evictions, and persecutions of fellow Kenyans. They all related to the wave of post-election crimes in Uasin Gishu and Nandi.

It was the first time, before a formal sitting of the court that the Kenyan suspects were coming face to face with the ICC judges and Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

The court also set September 1 as the day Eldoret MP, William Ruto, Tinderet MP, Henry Kosgey and Kass FM radio presenter Joshua arap Sang would know from the judges if the case against them by the prosecutor would go to full trial. They must attend this session in person, where, if it is ruled they must stand trial, and then they would be handed over to a new set of ICC judges.

The court also set April 18 as the day when the prosecution and defence teams will meet to ascertain the status of the process culminating in the confirmation phase on September 1.

In between now and then, the prosecutor is obliged to share the evidence he holds against the three with defence lawyers.

Fresh violence

The three, who will be followed in appearance before ICC today by Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura and Hussein Ali, became the first Kenyans citizens to appear before ICC to be read charges of crimes against humanity.

“It came to the knowledge of the Chamber by way of following some articles in the Kenyan newspapers that there are some movements towards triggering fresh violence by way of using some dangerous speeches,’’ said the presiding judge of Pre-Trial Chamber II Justice Ekaterina Trendafilova.

She then threw in the warning to the politicians who have appeared in pre-ICC rallies and prayer sessions.

“I would like to remind the suspects — and I’m not referring to anyone in particular but this is a general point to be made to all the suspects — that such type of action could be perceived as a sort of inducement, which may constitute the breach of one of the conditions set out in the summonses to appear: Namely, to continue committing crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Accordingly, this might prompt the Chamber to replace the summonses to appear with warrants of arrest…” she said.

Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova, Presiding Judge at the initial appearance of William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang before the ICC on April 7. 2011.

The sitting arrangement, like that of local courts had the four traditional sitting formation of sitting pews: Defence, Prosecution, Registrar’s or court officials, the Judges’ Bench, and the Public Gallery.

Burden of proof

The prosecutor bears the burden of proof, as the defence teams fight the claims against their clients. The judge(s) constitute the final arbiters, and the public stand witness to the wheels of justice.

Yesterday and today’s cases however, as the judge said at the outset, were not sessions during which a ruling was expected or where evidence would be adduced.

Ruto and Sang appeared to be navigating in strange waters when they jumped the gun and prematurely sought to clear their names at the stage where they were to be identified, read their rights, and allow court to ascertain if they have been adequately briefed about the allegations against them.

Kosgey, however, was more guarded, and even after the appearance, he merely said he was anxiously waiting to be told the allegations against him so that he could clear his name.

Ruto, however, was fiery against the court, which had started by reprimanding the three for being late by three minutes, and was quoted by Associated Press dismissing the case against him as “balderdash”.

He also gave the analogy of a movie or cinema in and outside court to support his argument the charges read to him were fictitious and mythical.

“The allegations that have been made here … can only be possible in a movie,” said Ruto, in court. He added: “For an innocent person like me to be dragged all the way here is a matter that puzzles me.”

His wife Rachel and daughter accompanied Ruto. Kosgey’s son was also in his father’s defence team. Once the court session and in complete disregard of court protocol, Kenyan politicians who had accompanied the three held news conferences, donning the national colours, at which they sustained their anti-ICC tirade and made political inferences against the charges against the Ocampo Six.

They also declared they would hold a welcome rally for the six once back home, despite the warning by Justice Trendafilova to avoid political statements that could precipitate renewed tension.

At the court Ruto, Kosgey and Sang showcased their defence teams, called out to their names, and made short statements regarding who they were, where they were born, and what they do for a living. It was during this session that Ruto and Sang overstepped the questions they had been asked by the Judge and the agenda of the day to venture into their innocence.

Ruto wondered who his accusers were; said it was unfair for him to have been brought all the way from Kenya to be read false accusations. He was, however, asked to take his seat by the Judge.

Accusations

Sang described himself as ‘innocent journalist’ and told Justice Trendafilova he had not been interrogated by the prosecutor and criticised the charges against him.

Sang, like Ruto, was cut short by the judge with the restraint there would be time for those kinds of arguments and presentations.

Unlike in political arenas where politicians take the front positions in the high table, it was a different experience for Ruto and Kosgey. They took the back seats, right behind their defence teams. The three incidentally were behind Ruto’s lawyers, while their own were in different wings of the courtroom.

The Chamber assured the process would be expedited, and also promised the suspects they would be given sufficient time and facilities to prepare their defences. They were also informed the September 1 verdict could terminate or carry on the cases against them.

The judge also told them she knew well the ‘psychological burden’ the cases and summonses have on the suspects. But it was a departure from tradition for the judge to warn the suspects they risked arrest warrants even before ruling on the application of stringent conditions Moreno-Ocampo sought on Wednesday against the six.

When he left the court, Ruto declared: “My conscious is clear, and my soul is at peace that I never committed these crimes.”

Ruto said accusations against him are absurd, adding that he was praying for justice.

“To say I distributed 3,000 guns is absurd. We will be given the names of the accusers and their statements. But the truth will come out finally,” he declared.

The chamber is composed of Justice Trendafilova, Justice Hans-Peter Kaul, and Justice Jakob Tarfusser.

Justice Trendafilova informed the suspects they have the right to access evidence Moreno-Ocampo intends to use against them. This is to help the suspects to prepare their defence

Ends

KENYA: OCAMPO SIX TRIALS……WEEEEE!!!!!

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From: Mugo Muchiri
Los Angeles, CA

The die has been cast and its signature emblem is April 7-8, 2011. These are the days when the Ocampo Six – Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, Francis Muthaura, Henry Kosgey, Hussein Ali and Julius Sang – are required to report to the Hague in response to summons issued by the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II.

A preliminary examination, it appears, was all it took for the three-panel bench to conclude by majority vote that the ICC prosecutor’s evidence was sufficiently damning, or had at least exceeded threshold, to warrant the suspects’ personal appearances before it to answer charges of crimes against humanity.

Life wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. With the exception of Mr. Sang, all were high-rolling heavy hitters in government; all enjoyed extraordinary perks of high office achieving what only one or two in a million Kenyans ever live to enjoy: Chase cars, bodyguards, lavish official homes, frequent overseas travel, hefty salaries including all manner of allowances and accommodations, not to mention the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape and implement policies that have a bearing on the lives of millions upon millions of Kenyans, from finance and agriculture all the way to security and industry. Indeed Kenya has been VERY GOOD to them. The question is, Were they good to their homeland?

According to recent surveys, about 4 of every 5 Kenyans think the answer is an unequivocal ‘No!’ The Ocampo Six, they say, need to be tried at the Hague in order to put an end to the flare-ups of violence that have accompanied each electoral cycle since 1992. The ruthless and well-orchestrated use of targeted violence on innocent Kenyans needs to be put to a decisive end. There are not many things Kenyans overwhelmingly agree on being the pluralistic people that we are. This is unquestionably one of them.

Someone recently asked me if the Hague trials will be Kenya’s passport to the Civilized World? Will they be the red card that’s being flashed at Impunity, that ominous culture that was sired by Kenya’s founding father, President Jomo Kenyatta, and has been cradled and nurtured by every single leader of significance since? Will a more equal society ensue, allowing Kenya a calibre of leadership that leans more towards a Barack Obama’s national-interest driven singularity? Will issues great national import see the light of day, having their play in the arena of public discussion instead of in stuffy backrooms of kitchen cabinets?

Not too long ago, activist Ann Njogu joined a glitterati of human rights activists from across the globe at the US State Department in Washington DC where Secretary of State Hilary Clinton honored them for their valiance in advancing the cause of human rights in their respective countries. Will Ms. Njogu be able to give a statement at a police station and not have to be visited by indignities on her person?

Let’s say that I’m optimistic that within this generation, Kenyans will live to bear testimony to a more even society where the application of the law doesn’t vary depending upon your wealth circumstance or family influence. And whereas we may not quite be at Israel’s level – recall that their former President just received a harsh sentence for the rape of a female associate while he was Tourism minister – we have every reason to be sanguine about our future prospects as a nation.

I sincerely hope that the Hague trials will have an added personal benefit to each Kenyan in the sense that it allows each one to think about the following issues:

· Why do people kill, maim, rape and dispossess their fellow human beings?

· How could friendly neighbors be so easily turned into killing machines?

· Is the promise of cash enough to tempt you to slay another?

· What is the value of human life?

· Do poor people not have human dignity and God’s grace?

· How does a churched / templed / mosqued population so easily forget that teaching that man is created in the image of God; that our bodies are His temple, and that “as you do to the least among these, you do unto me?”

· Where is that receptacle of knowledge that forever guides man’s behavior only in the evolutionary, life-supporting direction?

· What is it that can so blind a man that he fails to see innocence even as children and women run in terror before one’s very eyes?

· What is that force that brings a man to lift machete upon his brother?

· What can bring a father (leader of nation for example) to order soldiers to open fire and kill his children (fellow wananchi)?

· What veil is it that closes our eyes to the consequences of our actions especially when we know that one of the most important behavioral injunctions to mankind is ‘Thou shalt not kill’?

· Where is the seat of lust for power and influence?

· How can I gain perfection in mind, body and behavior so that all my actions will be completely in accord with Natural Law, the will of God?

In conclusion, catastrophes, calamities and other events that cause massive suffering, dislocation and loss of life are never random events that lie outside the purview of mankind. When the people in society violate the laws of nature mostly by doing injustice to the innocent, they produce stress in the collective atmosphere of society and create the ground for future suffering. Nature can tolerate tension in the atmosphere until the farthest limits of its elasticity are reached. Then the outburst occurs.

We have to be careful as humans to not cause tension to increase in our lives because in doing so, we plant the seeds that will erupt in our faces at some future period. This is why I advise every Kenyan to learn the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique and the TM-Sidhi program to develop invincibility for themselves, for the nation and for the world.

I thank the world for having founded the International Criminal Court (ICC); I’m grateful to Luis Moreno Ocampo for giving a voice to the millions of voiceless Kenyans who are ignored by their government as a matter of routine. There can be no doubt that the image of some of Kenya’s most powerful people being hauled before the ICC to answer these very serious charges will cause powerful people in Africa to be circumspect, certainly measured in their actions on their fellow citizens.

If I were in Kenya today, I would plant a forest for the ICC to commemorate their actions which will loosen the noose on common folk everywhere in Africa. A forest is an appropriate symbol for it removes the nastiness from the environment, breathes life into the atmosphere and nourishes all in its surroundings. With particular reference to the trial of the Ocampo Six, the ICC is not entirely dissimilar.

But ultimately the responsibility for creating a healthy, vibrant, lawful country lies with you and me. Nothing can ensure better times for you personally, and for your country by extension, that spending 20 minutes morning and evening in a process that allows your mind to transcend the finest level of relative life and experience pure, unbounded Being in terms of your own inner Self. And so, from the son of Ndunge, it’s keti gumu and LET THE ICC GAMES BEGIN.

KENYA & ICC: RUDE SHOCK AND TOUGH CONDITIONS AWAIT FOR THE OCAMPO SIX AT THE HAGUE AS FIRST BUNCH EXPECTED TO MAKE FIRST APPEARANCE AT THE ICC COURT TODAY.

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Writes LEO odera Omolo

Kenya’s first batch of mass killings suspects come face to face with an International Criminal Court judge, opening another sad chapter for the country in 48 years of self-rule.
But even as Kenya’s citizens take their place in a courtroom that has starred infamous genocide suspects such as the late Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia-Yugoslavia, Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will be seeking more stringent conditions against the Kenyan suspects.

The news of the ICC opening cases at The Hague against the suspects dominated the front pages of Kenya’s leading dailies like the STANDARD, DAILY NATION, THE NAIROBISTAR and even the PEOPLE’S DAILY, paper which is owned by one of the suspects, the Deputy pime Ministe and Mnister for Finance Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.

Moreno-Ocampo’s rude shock for the six include orders they provide, under oath, their financial statements, production of bond of personal security to ensure appearance when required, provision of all forms of contacts, including telephone and e-mail addresses, as well as commitment to appear at The Hague at least once every six months.

All the six, if Moreno-Ocampo has his way in court, will be required to ensure they do not make statements that can be interpreted as threats to potential witnesses, or even try and tamper with prosecution evidence.

Top positions

One of the post election violence suspects Mr Uhuru Kenyatta waves at the crowd at the airport as he left for the Hague on Thursday night
The new conditions, however, seem to weigh heavily against Deputy Prime Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, and Postmaster General, Hussein Ali, who he said he needed to restrain because of their influential positions in Government.

If they fail to meet any of the conditions, Ocampo wants the ICC judges to issue warrants of arrests against the suspects. He says the conditions are to make sure they comply with the requirements and decisions of the court.

At the same time, Prime Minister Raila Odinga went live on television to declare this was also the time for the country to reflect on the pain of those who suffered the brutality of the violence. “Justice for the victims and fair process for the suspects,’’ were his prayer.

He also asked the country to confront the truth, saying it was the only thing that would set her free. He also assured the world the stability and security of the country was not under threat because of the anxiety set off by the ICC process.

The appearance of the first three suspects this morning, and another three tomorrow morning, marks the first time eminent Kenyans will be facing trial in a foreign court. They will be in dock for international crimes they are suspected to have perpetrated and because the competence of Kenya’s judicial system, and the Government’s commitment to justice for post-election violence victims failed the test of the international community.

Ocampo filed his application for the imposition of the new conditions against the six, and more so against Uhuru, Muthaura and Ali, on Wednesday. The three hold significant positions in Government and appear before the ICC judge tomorrow for formal identification and to be officially read the charges against them.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga addresses the nation on the ICC process in his office, on Wednesday. [PHOTO: BONIFACE OKENDO/STANDARD]

Today, would be groundbreaking entry into ICC for Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey and Kass FM’s Joshua arap Sang. They are expected before the judge at 11am, but though covered by the general terms of the conditions, it is against the Uhuru trio that Ocampo specifically sought on Wednesday’s orders.

Ocampo’s argument is that he wants Uhuru, Muthaura and Ali bound by the new conditions so that they do not undermine investigations. Ruto and Kosgey are out of the Cabinet, while Sang does not hold public office.

Political sentiments

Ocampo wants the judges to issue an order to compel the three suspects to refrain from making public statements that touch on the case, the charges, the investigation, or the evidence. If issued, this particular order would gag the suspects from making political statements.

Even though, in his application the prosecutor says that all the suspects should refrain from making public statements, he specifically wants the judges to issue targeted orders against Uhuru, Muthaura, and Ali. “Due to their senior positions of authority in Kenya, any statements that the suspects may make concerning the violence or their co-operation with the court could, intentionally or unintentionally, be regarded by actual or potential witnesses as pressure to cease co-operation with the court, or impact future witnesses’ willingness or desire to cooperate,” the prosecutor argues in his application.

Given that the prosecutor lost bid to revive charges against the three for crimes committed in Kisumu and Kibera, it appears he wants to turn the heat on them by giving them stricter conditions.

The revelations of Ocampo’s ‘ambush’ on the suspects appeared to put a damper on their upbeat mood, as they entered The Netherlands.

When Ruto, Kosgey and Sang arrived at Schipol Airport on Wednesday, escorted by more than 30 MPs, Kenya’s Ambassador to The Netherlands Ruthie Rono was at hand to receive them. She escorted them to Steigenberger Karhaus Hotel where they spent the night.

Kenyan flag

Just like Ali, who arrived on Tuesday morning, the three went straight to consult their lawyers. At the airport, the MPs escorting Ruto, who were all donning caps decorated with colours of the Kenyan flag that Ruto wears at rallies they sang patriotic songs before boarding a bus to Carlton Beach Hotel. Some of the MPs already at The Hague are Eugene Wamalwa, Jeremiah Kioni, Linah Jebii Kilimo, Jamlek Kamau, Ferdinand Waititu, Isaac Ruto and Peris Simam

With the MPs, members of the civil society, and Kenyan journalists at The Hague, not everyone would sit inside the court during proceedings.

By Wednesday evening, space at the public gallery had been reserved for a few people to follow the proceedings.

Kioni said nobody or political party was catering for the MPs’ travel expenses. “Each MP is catering for his or her own expenses, and we have to inform our constituents of what is going on here, when we get back,” he said.

“Kenya is not a failed State. We believe in our country,” said Kioni.

Upon hearing charges against them, the Chamber will set a date for confirmation of the charges. The pre-trial process may take six months.

The ICC on Wednesday also released an instruction that lawyers representing the Ocampo Six will be required to contact ICC’s Victims and Witness Unit before approaching a witness.

Judge Trendafilova set the condition in an application that was filed by Uhuru, Muthaura and Ali. In her decision delivered on April 4, the judge said witnesses are not the property of any party, but conveyors of information.

Ruto’s lawyer, Kithure Kindiki argued this would be challenged, given the fact that Ocampo had not supplied them with evidence.

Ends

ICC & KENYA: ICC MAY FREEZE OCAMPO SIX ASSETS

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From: Lee Makwiny

End of days?

—
Being a Luo is a calling (J. Nyongesa), a lifestyle (Kuria Mwangi) a responsibility (Maurice Courage), and now with Gor Mahia (Sirkal), it’s a HIGHER CALLING(Otieno Sungu)

– – – – – – – – – – –

ICC MAY FREEZE OCAMPO SIX ASSETS

Monday, 04 April 2011 00:02

BY FRANCIS MUREITHI AND PAUL ILADO

International Criminal Court agents have been tracing and profiling the assets owned by the Ocampo Six ahead of their appearance in court this week.

The agents have profiled investments valued at Sh20 billion reportedly owned by one of the suspects even as they draw up detailed lists and verify information provided by other suspects.

The assets probe, which started months ago, officially started on March 8 after the pre-trial chamber judges issued summons.”We have a deadline to trace these assets and investments both in Kenya and abroad. So far the bulk of the assets we have traced belong to one suspect and his family. All this information will be handed over to the relevant arm of the court so that if the court wants these assets and bank accounts frozen, then they know where they are,” said an agents who cannot be identified because he is not authorised to speak to reporters.

The ICC is believed to have hired different asset-tracing firms to keep track of the money that two of the six suspects have been moving around in their attempt to conceal the cash.

Families and relatives of some of the suspects are said to have become increasingly agitated as fears grow of the possibility of ICC ordering a freeze on their assets or accounts.

Wanted by ICC are deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey, Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and radio journalist Joshua Sang’.

One of the suspects has in the past few months transferred millions in cash and assets to his lawyer who is supposed to hold them in trust. An offshore firm registered in the Cayman Islands is also reported to have taken up his shares in a well known insurance business.

A second suspect has sold assets valued at Sh10 billion, including hundreds of hectares of land and a food processing business.”In one of the companies known to belong to the suspect’s family, the shareholding was transferred last week on Wednesday to one of the partners who is very close to the family,” the agent said. A number of top law firms in the city are reportedly involved in the transfers.

Under the Rome Statute, once a suspect has been summoned or a warrant of arrest issued, the ICC judges have powers to issue orders freezing the assets and accounts of any suspect at the request of the chief prosecutor.

Article 57 (e) provides that ICC seizure of a suspect’s assets or accounts is done as a “protective” measure in case a suspect is convicted and fined and if cash is needed to compensate victims.

Once the suspect is tried and convicted, the judges can issue an order for transfer of such assets into the Victims’ Trust Fund for disbursement to victims as reparations. But if the suspect is found innocent, the court must lift the freeze order.

Articles 57 (e) and 58 sets out how the court can issue a warrant while Article 93 compels the government to assist the court in “the identification, tracing and freezing or seizure of proceeds, property and assets and instrumentalities of crimes for the purpose of eventual forfeiture, without prejudice to the rights of bona fide third parties.

It is not immediately clear if the government has helped the ICC, but the Star established ICC representatives have met senior officers at the Attorney General’s office to discuss asset tracing.

In January, the ICC wrote to the Cabinet sub-committee on ICC chaired by Internal Security minister George Saitoti, requesting for support in tracing, freezing or seizure of property of the Ocampo Six when the Pre-Trial Chamber judges issue summons.

In the letter, the ICC stated the procedure of tracing and freezing or seizure of proceeds, property and assets for the purpose of eventual forfeiture and compensation to the victims of the violence.

Under the International Crimes Act (2008), the government is bound to cooperate with the ICC regarding tracing and seizure of assets owned by ICC suspects.

Article 106 (a) and (b) of the Act states that where the ICC requests assistance in identifying, tracing and freezing, or seizing, any property for the purpose of eventual forfeiture, the Attorney General shall only give authority for the request to proceed only if he is satisfied the request relates to an international crime and the property is or may be located in Kenya.

Article 130 (1) of the provides that “any money or property, including the proceeds of sale of property, recovered as a result of the enforcement under this Part of an order of the ICC shall be transferred to the ICC”.

MPs supported the passage of International Crimes Bill when it was brought to the House by Amos Wako at the end of 2008 with President Kibaki signing it into law immediately it was approved by MPs. By that time, majority of MPs were pushing for Hague trials as opposed to a local tribunal. It is this Act that effectively domesticated the Rome Statute.

ICC has already frozen the assets and accounts of Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba who is on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The decision to freeze his assets was taken by the court three days after he was arrested in Brussels, Belgium, following issuance of a warrant of arrest. The former DRC vice-president was arrested on May 24, 2008 while his trial started in November last year after the court rejected his application that the trial be dropped.

After Bemba’s accounts were frozen, he complained he could not raise money for his defence and applied to the ICC to meet the cost. The application was rejected and the court re-opened one of Bemba’s account held in a bank in Portugal so he could pay his lawyers and support his family.

An estimated $6 million (Sh480 million) assets belonging to former Liberian President Charles Taylor held in ten countries in Europe were frozen after a United Nations-backed special war crimes tribunal for Sierra Leone started prosecuting him for war crimes. The then Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone Stephen Rapp announced that once there is proof that the money belongs to Taylor, the Special Court will bill him for his legal defence currently offered free. The UN Security Council is also pressurising the Liberian government to freeze Taylor’s assets in Liberia.