By Dickens Wasonga.

The International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor Luois Moreno Ocampo is currently visiting Kenya to consult directly with the victims of the post poll chaos that left an estimated 1300 people dead and several others displaced.

But even as the process begins in earnest,many victims and witnesses of the 2007 election violence whose effective participation will be key to ensure justice is done are still living in fear and scores continue to hide for lack of security guarantee by the state.

A civil society group based in Nairobi,the country’s capital now want the government to ensure that key witnesses and the victims of the violence which rocked the east African country following the announcement by the Kenya’s electoral commission of president Mwai Kibaki of Party of National Unity as the winner to guarantee their safety.

According to Mr. Ndung’u Wainaina,the executive director of International center for policy conflict, scores of Kenyans will not effectively participate in the ongoing efforts to nail the perpetrators of the violence because they do not feel they are secured.

Speaking in Kisumu,one of the hot spots of post election violence,Wainaina said the fear has been made worse due to the fact that many of those who masterminded the killings are still in key government positions.

The director said that about 95 per cent of those who died in western province,Nyanza and the coastal region of the country were killed by the security forces mainly from the police.

”We have reports that some police officers from these regions have been keeping track with the victims and their relatives with a view to intimidate them and ensure they do not speak out on the killings.”said Wainaina.

He made the remarks during a public meeting with victims of police brutality in Kisumu which was organized by the Citizen Against Violence Organization, a None Governmental Organization working in the province.

Several victims who suffered in the hands of a brutal police force gave moving testimonies of what befell them and how they have been desperately trying to access medication since then.

Four victims from the sprawling slums of Kisumu still had the bullets lodged in their bodies almost three years after the chaos and still need medication to ease the pain they are living with at the moment.

The chairman of Nyanza Youth Coalition Mr. Joshua Nyamori accused the political leaders for failing to take responsibility adding they have abandoned their voters who lost their love one on a power struggle related violence.

Nyamori said it was sad to see many of the victims mainly from Nyanza ignored by the government w2hile those who were affected from other regions have already been assisted.

”Some of the survivors continue to struggle to raise funds to foot medical bills without any help at all from the government.These are poor Kenyans who can barely afford to feed themselves daily leave alone the huge bills.” he said.

ENDS.