By MUTINDA MWANZIA

Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura has termed allegations levelled against him by International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo through evidence presented to Pre-Trial Chamber court as a pack of lies, saying his evidence lacks credibility.

Muthaura’s lawyer Karim Khan challenged the credibility of the evidence given by Ocampo’s witnesses, adding the prosecutor had failed in conducting basic investigations and should in fact be a subject of an inquiry once the confirmation of charges hearings are concluded.

"The facts given by the prosecution linking Muthaura to any crimes are purely dramatic theatrics by the prosecutor. The trial is not about drama, it is about the truth," said Khan.

Ocampo has claimed that Muthaura used his position to deploy State machinery to attack perceived ODM supporters during the 2007/2008 post-election violence in a bid to retain President Kibaki’s PNU in power.

Ocampo claims Muthaura and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta hatched a plan to use an ad hoc organisation comprising Mungiki militia and the police to execute retaliatory attacks. This was planned during meetings that allegedly took place at State House and Nairobi Members’ Club.

Saturday, Khan said one of the defence witnesses, Ambassador Yvonne Khamati, has submitted that she was in a meeting at State House on November 26, 2007, one of the days that the prosecution alleges Muthaura attended to plan the attacks on pro-ODM supporters.

Khan said Khamati, whom he described as a "rising star in Kenya politics" said the meeting that she attended did not discuss the Mungiki.

Khamati said for the prosecution to link the Government to the operations of the outlawed sect was testimony that Ocampo and his team did not know how the Government works.Khamati said the Government had declared war on the sect and any attempts to link it with the group was unimaginable.

"We even saw in reports in the media from several quarters claiming the Government was too tough on the Mungiki," said Khamati.

Khan said evidence from other defence witnesses showed that no such meetings took place at State House where the Mungiki were invited and where Muthaura was present.

He said that National Security Intelligence Services (NSIS) Director General Michael Gichangi has dismissed Muthaura’s links with the sect, adding any meeting that he is alleged to have attended should have been noticed by the spy agency.

"That’s why I say that the prosecution evidence cannot be relied on. To believe in what the team is presenting before the court is a travesty of justice and a matter of grave concern," said Khan.

He said the level of monitoring that the sect was attracting from the NSIS due to their threat to national security would also have exposed any leaders who were in touch with the outlawed group.

"NSIS had no information about the Mungiki being at State House. No Government agency would have turned a blind eye on such a sect," said Khan. He said nothing such as the alleged meetings with the outlawed sect can happen at State House without people knowing.

"The prosecution simply wants to allude that it is a very convenient location to hold a meeting with a criminal gang. This is not credible evidence," said Khan.

He said evidence from a State House operative, a Mr Michael Kagaki, whose role is to coordinate meetings, showed that nothing of that kind took place. Khan said no tents had been pitched at State House for the meetings on the said days.

"Maybe the prosecution wants us to believe that Muthaura pitched the tents himself. What the prosecution is trying to present as evidence is nonsense and should be rejected by the bench," said Khan.

Other top State House officials including Head of the Presidential Press Service Isaiah Kabira and President Kibaki’s private secretary Hyslop Ipu in their evidence confirmed no such meeting took place.

Khan said claims that Muthaura and Uhuru also met at then Minister for Internal Security John Michuki’s offices at Cargen House, Nairobi, to plan on the attacks were outrageous and false.

He said the alleged meeting on December 30 and where Michuki’s wife is alleged to have also attended was a concoction of lies that the bench should disregard. "Michuki is known to have waged a war on the sect and even survived an assassination attack linked to the group and could never have funded its activities."

Khan said the sect leader Maina Njenga was in fact locked up during Michuki’s tenure as the minister in charge of state security. He said Michuki in his evidence to the defence team said that his wife has never been present in any of the meetings alleged by the prosecution, terming the claims as vicious and offensive.

"I have been married to my wife for 52 years and she is a woman of character and dignity. The allegations by Ocampo that she was in any of the meetings are a concocted attempt, which is politically motivated," said Khan, who quoted Michuki’s evidence.

Khan said the prosecution was using the Waki report and that from the Kenya National Human Rights Commission as the basis of its evidence, adding that Ocampo’s team had failed to dig for more information linking the accused to the charges.

"Any prudent investigator should have interviewed more people including the suspects. They look like they visited the country as tourists and thus failed to get the truth," said Khan.

He added Ocampo and his team should have verified the evidence enumerated in the reports that they were relying on by even talking to state agencies for corroboration purposes.

Khan played a video clip where a local TV station interviewed Ocampo and where he alluded that Muthaura was not part of the top suspects linked with the post-election chaos.

"The clip has shown Ocampo exonerating my client. The prosecutor must be consistent in his evidence," said Khan.

He said it was difficult to make head or tail of the prosecution evidence, adding that is why the defence has been suggesting that they be furnished with the witness statements.

"We will expose the flimsiness of the prosecution’s evidence in the case against Muthaura since the charges raised against him cannot stand the test of the law," said Khan.

He said Muthaura has spent nearly 45 years serving the nation in various capacities, adding that at the end of his career he has to come to court to defend himself against the allegations.

Khan said by linking the Njuri Ncheke where Muthaura is an elder to the Mungiki sect was evident that the prosecution failed in its investigative role.

"That’s why I insist that the case should not go for trial since Ocampo has decided to march forward blindly even when he knows that he has no evidence against Muthaura," said Khan.