Report By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City
A TEAM of investigators from the International Criminal Court {ICC} were last night being expected to arrive in Kisumu City.
While the lakeside City the team is expected to piece together information abut the 2007-2008 post-election that hit the town like Tsunami.
The four officials started their tour of the violence hotspots last week with visit to Naivasha and Nakuru as they rush to beat the October 20th deadline set by the ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.
While in- Kisumu, the officials are expected to meet with the victims the violence with the help of human rights groups.
The officials re said to be from the Analysis and Scene of Crime section of the ICC. In addition to analyzing the security and political situation in the country, the ICC investigators are also said to be seeking to establish the damage caused to the lives and property of the victims by the post-election violence
Kisumu suffered the brunt of the violence that engulfed the country, the losses incurred by the businessmen and traders are moderately being estimated at close to Kshs 6 billions. Many properties burnt down, especially business premises are yet to be repaired to-date.
Meanwhile the week that ended today {Sunday}was an eventful period which experienced the shocking revelation that a cabinet Minister in the Kenya’s coalition government had offered a colossal amount of money in an attempt to bribe one of the potential witnesses so that he could withdraw his evidence.
The unnamed Minister is one of the top government officials said to have received the letter from the ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.
The Kenyan daily the NAIROBISTAR had on Tuesday last week came out with a banner headline front page story that a potential witness who is already living in a safe hideout in a neighboring country under the protection of the ICC was offered colossal money to the tune of Kshs 50 million.
The report claimed that a powerful cabinet Minister had offered more than KJshs 50 million to a key witness to withdraw his evidence against him {Minister}that had already been presented to the ICC at the Hague. But the witness said, to brother of the eight witnesses’ who were recently flown out of Kenya and now living under the protection in another African country has declined the offer.
And to give credence to the claim, the ICC Prosecutor Ocampo immediately responded by writing a terse letter to Kenya’ Internal Security Minister Prof. George Saitoti asking fir more information reports that some suspect ayetry8ng to bribe witnesses.
The letter was signed on behalf of Moreno Ocampo by the head of the International Corporation Amady Bar says in part,” we intend to investigate the report.
“We should also raise concern over reports we have received that our witnesses have been offered bribes by persons wh0 feel threatened by the ICC. We intend also to investigate these allegations and kindly any information you may be in possession of, including persons offering bribes to shield individual from criminal responsibility,” states the letter.
“Given the confidential nature of our witnesses, we are this stage to provide further details regarding these reports,” adds the letter
According to the STAR report, the witness is crucial because he had recorded the minister on video attending the meeting where the 2007-2008 post election violence was planned.
The witness is reported to have told the interviewer by phone from his hideout that he had told his relative wh9 had acted as the minister’s emissaries that he cannot accept the bribe –payment because that could be a trap to kill him.” I left Kenya because of threat to my life. There is no way I can put my life in grave danger by associating with the suspect.”
The witness is said to have declined, though his relatives had pleaded with him that he would be safe in South Africa with such huge sums of money.
“In my case my interest has not been money, but to tell the truth because UI cannot trade with the lives of people.”
The report further stated that the ICC investigators have so carried out interviews with the eight witness said t have been relocated to an African country outside Kenya. These witnesses are likely to meet with the ICC Chief Prosecutor Ocampo who is due to visit Kenya later this month.
The ICC is also reportedly as planning to relocate these potential witnesses to Europe where they will remain under the protection when they will be asked to give evidence against the suspect expected to be named by the ICC at the end of this year.
The credibility of these reports appearing in the STAR a conservative and up-coming daily, which of late has captured the imagination and became hot-stuff for Kenyan readers. The paper is an independent minded daily is unquestionable and Kenya believes on these reports as representing the true picture of the subject matter.
These reports have caused a lot of panicking and shockwaves among the politicians in the violence hotspots, especially in the North Rift where the worse violence occurred around Eldoret Town and the burn Forest areas, and in the sprawling tourist destination town 0of Naivasha.
Ends