Folks,
The United Nations Security Council should give order for President Kibaki after meeting,
instead of going back to Kenya, it should divert to ICC Hague. Others should follow immediately. This is when confidence of UN Security Council and ICC Hague are able to prove to Africa and the world that we are together on one page. His plane will have lesser load when flying back to Kenya.
Kenya was not able to nub Al-Bashir in Kenya, but we are glad, we have a bird in hand.
Ocampo should do the needful urgently. We all know papers were ready, it is just a matter of release.
This will provide remedy to clear Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab in Kenya, give peace to Somali and bank on security and peace for Southern Sudan election which is round the corner.
We are all looking for peace, this is how to achieve it, and let us all be serious. We will have saved many souls. This is when Kibaki will know that Ocampo and ICC Hague is real. Look at how they are sending Mutula Kilonzo to play Ocampo a DUMMY. This is the sure way cobwebs will be cleaned and peace will cover Africa again.
We must get rid off extremest fundamentalists from amongst peaceful people.
With one stone we will kill two birds.
Cheers !
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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ICC shifts focus to extra-judicial killings
By Ben Agina and Vitalis Kimutai
The International Criminal Court plans to reopen investigations into the shooting and killing of over 400 Kenyans by security forces in the 2007 post-election violence.
Reliable sources told The Standard the ICC was investigating what led to the shooting of many among the 400 who were fleeing, and who gave orders to fire.
The new revelations came with reports the ICC is targeting senior officers in the security forces, together with a powerful Cabinet minister. Some of the targeted suspects have, according to our sources, already engaged lawyers.
The ICC sleuths will focus on persons who died from gunshot wounds, with fingers pointing directly at the police. The investigations will involve digging up graves of the victims. In Nyanza Province, out of the 134 deaths recorded during the violence, 107 were as a result of police shootings while in Western Province, 74 out of 98 deaths people were shot from behind during the skirmishes in which of 1,133 people lost lives.
While giving his submission to the Pre Trial Chamber earlier in the year, ICC chief prosecutor Moreno Ocampo accused leaders from across Kenya’s political divide, as well as businessmen, of having played a role in the post-election violence.
Details of Ocampo’s submission to the Pre-Trial Chamber show how the suspects planned and executed what he referred to as a “criminal policy” against civilians.
Ocampo, who is expected to visit Kenya next month, divided those responsible for the violence into two categories — those who wanted to gain power and those who wanted to retain it.
The chief prosecutor told judges at The Hague that while PNU used State agencies, their opponents in ODM used criminal gangs to execute their politically
motivated schemes.
Some 1,133 people were killed and over 650, 000 evicted from their homes in the wake of the chaos that followed Kenya’s disputed 2007 presidential election.
The new developments emerged as two Rift Valley MPs accused the Government of lacking the goodwill to have key post election violence suspects arrested and prosecuted.
Feet dragged
Naivasha MP John Muthuto, his Molo counterpart Joseph Kiuna and former Nakuru Kanu branch chairman Kimani Ngunjiri said the Government had all along dragged its feet on the matter, as victims of the violence sought justice.
Mututho said there was no justification for the killing of innocent people, including a pregnant woman in Naivasha who was burnt alive, in the name of politics.
“It is even a pity that a local tribunal was not formed to deal with so-called small fish who perpetrated the violence” Mututho said.
Kiuna said the relocation of witnesses by the ICC and donor agencies was a move in the right direction, as their continued stay in open locations in the country jeopardised their safety, and investigations could be compromised. The MPs spoke after The Standard confirmed that a number of witnesses had been relocated together with their families.
A human rights activist in Eldoret, and three other witnesses, were among those secretly flown out. It is not clear what evidence they hold, but ICC sources said thorough vetting was done to ensure only those with ‘credible evidence’ were facilitated to leave the country. It also emerged ICC protected the witnesses locally for months at hidden locations before they were relocated. “Each witness got about Sh40, 000 to move house and rent a secure home, together with their upkeep,” said a source.
The Molo MP, whose constituency has borne the brunt of post-election, land and tribal clashes for the last 20 years, accused the Government of lacking the goodwill and commitment to arrest and prosecute suspects.
“It is an open secret that the Government has no commitment to the prosecution of key suspects. It is simply dragging its feet in the hope that the issue will be buried by emerging national issues, including the next General Election” Kiuna said.
But three other MPs from the region, Joshua Kutuny, Peris Simam (Eldoret South) and Benjamin Langat (Ainamoi) said relocation of the witnesses was unnecessary, as it would create tensions and suspicion among the communities.
Langat and Kutuny described the relocated ICC witnesses as self-seekers influenced by monetary gains, and that they had been coached in advance to present falsehoods at The Hague. “What they are taking to The Hague is nothing of substance. The timing of this shows a systematic plan to ruin the careers of others ahead of 2012,” Langat said.
Meanwhile, Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo has reiterated his position that the ICC would not be able to handle all cases emanating from the post election violence.
The minister said Kenyans should prepare to take over some of the cases since the ICC will only present at most two suspects.
“I am not out to undermine the ICC and its obligations, but the fact is that the Kenyan case is complex and it will be better dealt with locally,” he said.
He singled out the listing of over 400 witnesses to present evidence to the ICC, saying the number was too high for any court.
— Additional Reporting by Beauttah Omanga
Provincial Administration cannot continue as if nothing changed
Posted Sunday, September 19 2010 at 18:17
Of late, there has been much debate on the fate of the Provincial Administration under the new constitutional dispensation.
But to insist that the administration will continue operating as it has been, albeit with new titles, is to miss the point.
A close reading of the Constitution will reveal that no role has been assigned to this outfit. The Transitional and Consequential Provisions make it clear that it should not compete with and frustrate the work of the yet to be established county governments.
To therefore leave the determination of its fate to those with vested interests is to say the least, absurd. Corporations undergoing restructuring never allow those to be affected to control the process.
However sympathetic one may want to be towards those who have served or are serving in this unit, a complete paradigm shift is required if the public is to benefit from their services.
We know that the majority of them do not always put the interests of local communities where they are posted to first; they are beholden to the Office of the President in Nairobi.
While PCs, DCs and chiefs may have had their successes, it is also common knowledge that many of them unjustly enriched themselves through grabbing and sale of public resources such as land, forests and relief food; awarding of contracts to their cronies; and generally extorting money and favours from a helpless populace.
Service to the President should be replaced with service to wananchi; they are the ones who pay salaries through taxes.
The Ministry of Internal Security should also be studying models of other ministries like Education and Agriculture on how they have decentralised their services to the grassroots.
The days when the Provincial Administration used to play some kind of a supervisory role over other government ministries and departments in the provinces and districts should end.
In line with this, the new President in 2012 will have to learn to work with and through the people’s elected representatives at the county level, including the governor.
Units such as the courts, the police and ministries ought to play their part without undue interference from the Provincial Administration.
However, the transition needs to be managed in such a way that a vacuum is not created. National unity should also not be sacrificed in the process.
Accordingly, I think the position ofthe Prime Minister on the matter is the one that best captures the wishes and aspirations of the people of Kenya.
ANDREW CHEMWOLO, Nairobi
Who qualifies to be a governor? Most definitely not the old guard
By CYPRIAN NYAMWAMU
Posted Sunday, September 19 2010 at 18:13
The new Constitution was inspired by a clear vision — to facilitate the development of a human rights state in Kenya by overhauling the neo-colonial state established by the British and sustained by the successive post-colonial administration.
To build the new human rights state, the new Constitution has created devolved county units. The 47 counties will work like 47 parastatals.
Each parastatal shall have a chief executive officer, the governor, who will be accountable to a board of directors called the County Assembly.
Each governor must ensure the county government defines the development objectives, sets out a plan through programmes, proposes a budget for delivering each programme, employs the best talent to manage the works on each of the programme, supervises each of the programmes daily, accounts to the County Assembly, and ensures that all the legal and constitutional obligations of the county government are met.
The County Assembly must ensure that the chief executive delivers by performing four functions — oversight, representation of interests, making enabling laws and undertaking advocacy on behalf of the county government at the national and international levels.
Only men and women with the skills to deliver on the following four areas should be elected to the assembly.
The governor must manage a clean, lean, effective, accountable and responsive county government. This means that he or she must employ only non-corrupt officers at the county government. He or she must, of course, be clean, with no record of corruption and sleaze.
The counties should not become cash cows where unnecessary workers are stocked to draw cash without delivering services or adding value. This means the county governments must be lean and rationalised. We must get it right from the word go.
Thirdly, the county governments must be effective, which requires that it cultivates the capacity to ensure security for its citizens and facilitate them to lead quality lives.
Fourthly, county governments must be accountable both vertically and horizontally. Horizontally, it must be accountable to the County Assembly on all matters of budget management, personnel and strategic management. Vertically, it must account to the people directly.
Similarly, the county government must account to the senate and the National Assembly as well as to the executive as regards its policy choices and how it is applying funds given to facilitate development in the county.
Fifth, governors must ensure county governments are responsive to the needs of the people. A consultative process must be established where the residents have a say on the priorities of investments and action. It must also have the capacity to mitigate disasters.
Governors, therefore, must be leaders as well as gifted managers who know how to balance politics with government responsibilities.
For example, the Busia governor must know how to balance between the politics of the county with the massive tasks and responsibilities of the government in Busia.
He or she must know how to address each of the wards, polling stations, members of the County Assembly, the area MPs, the senator as well as the President without losing focus on the core business.
The governors must be men and women who are public-spirited, and civic-minded and ready to hire the best talent. They must know how to build teams. They must be tough but wise. They must be good communicators who also know how to fundraise and manage resources. They must be good planners and organisers.
They must be people who love their families enough not to want to expose them to scandal and odium.
People who have run down constituencies, political parties, parastatals, schools, ministries, trade unions, associations, clubs and government offices do not qualify.
Most of the old guys who belong to the advisory bench do not qualify to occupy the office of governor in Kenya.
Mr Nyamwamu, a lawyer, is a Panafrican human rights and governance expert working in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Forget politicians; let professionals take over the running of counties
Bottom of Form
Rating
By RASNA WARAH
Posted Sunday, September 19 2010 at 18:12
Recently, the Coast People’s Forum proposed that professionals, rather than politicians, be nominated as county governors and senators under a devolved system of government.
A couple of weeks ago, the Forum came up with a list of people they would like to see running the show in the region. Media reports suggest that the list comprised mainly scholars and technocrats — no one on the list was a politician.
I have not seen the list, nor do I know the criteria used for the nominations, but I agree that if this country has any chance of achieving meaningful development, it will come about, not through the efforts of politicians, but of professionals in various fields.
Let us take the example of Malindi, a town that I have a particular fondness for and which I have made my home in recent months.
People who come for short visits to this laid-back resort town will notice that it is particularly popular with European retirees, and that its highly visible Italian population has turned Malindi into one of the best places south of Sicily to sample Italian cuisine.
They will also discover that this coastal town is particularly renowned for a delicacy known as halwa, which has its roots in the Arabian peninsula.
Many visitors will be surprised to learn that Malindi was the site of a 19th century slave market and that Vasco da Gama took a pilot from this town to guide him through his historic sea voyage to India in the latter part of the 15 century.
Agro-economists will be astonished to learn that Malindi has very high agricultural potential and that as far back as the 16th century, it produced oranges, lemons, rice and millet in abundance.
Writers will also be interested to know that in 1934, the American author Ernest Hemingway stayed in Malindi at what is now known as the Blue Marlin hotel for eight days.
However, these gems of information have not been sufficiently utilised by the government or politicians to bring about significant development to the town. The main road into the centre of Malindi Town from Lamu, for instance, is dilapidated and full of potholes.
And despite its huge potential as a tourist destination, the majority of hotels remain largely unoccupied for much of the year. There is only one fully-equipped hospital in the town. If the residents need specialised treatment, they have to drive 100 miles south to Mombasa.
Locals often complain about the growing sex tourism menace in the town and the increasing drug addiction among youth, both of which are linked to two other scourges affecting the local residents — poverty and unemployment.
Now, under a devolved structure, these problems could be handled technically, not politically. If county governments comprised professionals such as engineers, educationists, economists, doctors, sociologists, historians, artists, marketing professionals and businesspeople, they might want to spend the county funds solving real problems, rather than use the money for “political projects”.
The engineer, for instance, may propose that the major highway linking Malindi to Lamu be expanded and rebuilt. A sociologist might propose that a youth centre or football stadium be built to alleviate the drug addiction problem among the youth.
An economist might suggest that the economy of the area be diversified to include industries that process local produce. A medical practitioner may want to address the increasing cases of child sex abuse at the Malindi District Hospital, where nurses struggle daily to heal victims of paedophiles.
The historian might propose to undertake a study to document the rich history of the area (interestingly, the only known authoritative historical account of the town is to be found in a wonderful booklet titled Malindi: Past and Present by Esmond Bradley Martin, which was first published in 1969, and recently re-printed by the Malindi Museum Society.)
The businessperson may want to market Hemingway’s visit to organisers of literary festivals and at exhibitions marketing Kenya as a tourism destination.
With so many diverse minds dedicated to improving Malindi, the town, would be a thriving node of prosperity in no time.
Yes, it is about time that the development of this country was undertaken by smart, ethical and forward-looking professionals, rather than useless politicians.
rasna.warah@gmail.com
Uganda: Kenyan Lawyers Linked to Al Shabaab, Say Police
Emmanuel Mulondo, Oliver Mathenge & Andrew Bagala
19 September 2010
Two Kenyan human rights activists arrested on Thursday in Kampala were in the company of a suspected al Shabaab terrorist whom police have been trailing for some time, Police has said. The two, Mr Mbugua Muriithi and Mr Al-Amin Kimathi were arrested at Niagara Hotel in a Kampala suburb contrary to reports that they had been arrested at Entebbe International Airport.
“We got information that [a] suspect had entered Uganda and checked in at Niagara Hotel. It so happened that when these (Mureithi and Amin) came in, they also went to this Hotel to meet the al Shabaab suspect. So we picked them for interrogation. We want them to tell us what they know about the 7/11 bombings. They are still in our hands,” Police spokesman Vincent Ssekate said yesterday.
Although he did not name the suspect he added: “We want to know how the lawyers came to know about this man.”
Mr Muriithi was released yesterday after which he flew home and held a Press conference in Nairobi.
In Nairobi, the lawyer accused Ugandan authorities of harassment. He returned to the country yesterday morning after spending three days in custody alongside Mr Kimathi who is still being held by the Uganda security agents.
Mr Muriithi told journalists in Nairobi that they were held and driven around the country as the security personnel interrogated them. He added that they accused Mr Kimathi of being funded by al-Qaeda terror group.
Ugandan police arrested the two as they arrived in Uganda to attend a hearing for suspects in July’s Kampala bombing.
According to Mr Mbugua, the two had been due at a hearing for dozens of people charged with the attack which killed 76 people during the World Cup finals.
Mr Muriithi is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya while his colleague is a rights’ activist and executive coordinator of the Kenya Muslim Human Rights Forum.
Uganda security sources said yesterday, that Police Chief Kale Kayihura had flown to Nairobi to meet his counterparts there over protests over handling of the suspects by Ugandan security.
Their trial, soon to begin, contrary to practice, has been shifted to Luzira Prison instead of the High Court premises either in Nakawa or Kampala. Security personnel say the development is for security reasons.
Mr Mbugua termed the information that they were in the company of a terror suspect as “absurd and preposterous”. He dismissed the police reports saying that they were lured to the point of arrest by a person they did not know.
“This person whom we did not even know kept calling Al-Amin and told us that he had a message from the wife of one of the suspects,” said Mr Mbugua.
He claimed that other than being asked to confirm that Mr Kimathi’s Muslim Human Rights Forum was being funded by terror money, he was warned against stepping into Uganda in future.
Mr Mbugua also claimed that one of his interrogation officers was from Kenya due to his evident “Kenyan accent”.
The two were being held at the Rapid Response Unit offices in Kireka, a suburb of Kampala. Over 30 suspects were arrested in different areas of the country and scores later arrested in Kenya and extradited by the Kenyan authorities. Some of the Kenyans arrested include Idris Magondu, Hussein Hassan and Mohammed Adan Adow.
Their extradition provoked condemnation from sections of the Muslim community that Kenyan authorities had not followed procedures.
Activists and relatives of suspects arrested in connection with the bombing later turned up at Nakawa Magistrates Court in Kampala only to learn that the case would be heard in Luzira Maximum Prison.
Court shifted
The 34 suspects appeared before a Grade II Magistrate’s Court at the heavily-guarded prison. One suspect did not appear because he was admitted at Mulago Hospital.
The hearing was only attended by the suspects, their three lawyers, prison officials, the police and State Attorney. On Friday, legal practitioners in East Africa attacked the arrest and arbitrary detention of the two lawyers.
The Uganda Law Society Vice President, Mr Robert Okalang, who issued a statement on behalf of his local society, the Kenya Law Society and the East African Law Society, said on Friday that the conduct of the Uganda security personnel contravened the Ugandan constitution and international human rights instruments.