Most of you (I assume) by now have known that the ICC OTP brought in fresh evidence against the 3 Kenyans accused before the ICC even after the PTC II confirmed the cases on other discredited evidence.
There was a heated legal debate before the TC V about whether cases 2 should be referred back to the PTC since one of the main witnesses had recanted his testimony. The TC V ruled that they were not an appellate court and had no powers to order the case back to the PTC. No need to argue about that.
However, one of the TC judges resigned from the case and her personal reasons were that the OTP had not carried out its own investigations but relied on activists (read Maina Kiai, John Githongo, Makau Mutua, KNHRC, HRW among others) and had not observed due diligence in the manner it handled the cases. She was immediately replaced and the ICC gave another story to control the damage done.
During the many conferences and submissions, the OTP through Ms Bensouda requested the PTC II (the same one that confirmed the case against Mr Muthaura only for it to be dropped) to include gun charges against Mr Uhuru Kenyatta for Naivasha killings. The PTC II judges complied and the charges have been added to Mr Kenyatta's charge sheet.
The defence had a curious request that many people did not get. This request was applied before the TC V judges (not the discredited PTC II judges), that the OTP should specifically refer to Maina Njenga instead of using the 'Mungiki Leader' they were using before.
What is interesting is that the OTP requested that the charges be amended to use the term 'pro PNU youth' interchangeably with 'mungiki'. The defense did not object to that.
Now the new charge sheet states that Mr Kenyatta, working with Maina Njenga, conspired to commit crimes against humanity, with Mr Kenyatta being the indirect co-perpetrator while Maina Njenga, being the leader of Mungiki, the direct perpetrator.
The defence is giving the case that knowing smile.
Everybody knows that Maina Njenga (with his mungiki outfit) has, since 2005, been an ODM supporter as a staunch supporter of the former Prime Minister in the grand coalition government Mr Odinga.
So,, how did Maina Njenga, a staunch public supporter of ODM and its leader, work to ensure that the opposing party PNU would be retained in power? I can't stop laughing!
Now one of the NSIS intelligence reports given to the CIPEV and admitted as OTP evidence before the ICC is that during the chaos, mungiki group had vowed to ensure that they take such an action that would embarrass the Government. Now, it would be funny it indeed that action was to support PNU to remain in power. How embarrassing would that be to the (PNU) government?
The defense has never disputed that crimes against humanity were committed in Naivasha. So if indeed crimes were committed against humanity, by Mungiki, with an aim of embarrassing the Government, then mungiki will be held responsible for that violence. And so naturally, mungiki leader would be held responsible. Should the mungiki be held responsible, then it would reinforce the claims before the court that mungiki people are dishonest, unreliable and capable of doing anything for money including giving false testimony. Already several of them have indicated that they lied when promised money by the KNHRC, HRW and the OTP.
Maina Kiai and the group, after seeing where the case was heading, advised the OTP to oppose the inclusion of Maina Njenga's name in the list, but alas, the TC V judges agreed with the defense. I can smell the distinct smell of Maina Njenga's fresh roasting before the ICC.
I am waiting to see how the gun charges fit into Mr Kenyatta's charges, but I can tell you that in future, criminal gang’s leaders will think twice before engaging in activities aimed at destabilizing countries with the support of underground agents of the powers that be.
Blogged and culled from Senior SSS(Klist)
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