Fatou Bensouda should drop cases against Uhuru Kenyatta and DP Ruto, suggest Jubilee leaders

NAIROBI, KENYA: Key leaders of the Jubilee coalition yesterday urged International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to drop cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and journalist Joshua arap Sang.

Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki said the predominant mood in the country was against President Uhuru Kenyatta honouring summons to appear before the court on October 8.

Prof Kindiki spoke at the Golden Jubilee celebrations for Tumutumu Girls High School in Nyeri County, attended by Mr Ruto, two senators, a governor and 11 MPs.

"Ms Bensouda must now be courageous enough to admit a mistake and stop flogging the dead horse that is these cases against the three. She lost the cases long ago while I was still on Ruto's defence team," said Kindiki. 

Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua claimed the case against Uhuru should be considered failed because the minimum evidence threshold was not achieved.

Nyeri Senator Mutahi Kagwe said Kenyans were praying that Bensouda would stop pursuing a lost case, while Mathira MP Peter Weru urged the prosecutor to be fair to Kenyans and drop the cases. Nandi Senator Stephen Sang accused ICC of taking Kenya's co-operation for granted by summoning Uhuru.

Ruto did not mention the cases but announced a Sh12 billion injection for the Free Primary Education programme and subsidised secondary school education kitty worth Sh42 billion, up from Sh20 billion annually.

"We expect better accountability of these funds by all those concerned," said Ruto.

"If the ICC wants President Uhuru, they should wait for 10 years, when he leaves office," Kiambu Governor William Kabogo said, adding that Kenyans had sovereign power and were opposed to the summons.