Deputy President William Ruto waves at Laurent Gbagbo supporters, who were camped outside ICC building, in a show of solidarity, as he leaves the courtroom at The Hague after Wednesday’s proceedings. [PHOTO: PIUS CHERUIYOT/STANDARD]

By FELIX OLICK

The Hague: The second Prosecution witness at The Hague has admitted that he did not hear Deputy President William Ruto utter any inciting statement in the build-up to the 2007 polls.

 Answering questions from Ruto’s lead lawyer, Karim Khan, during cross-examination, the witness said Ruto did not make any inflammatory remarks during the numerous rallies he attended.

“You never heard anything from William Ruto amounting to incitement, did you?” asked Khan of the rallies he said he attended

  “No,” the witness answered.

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 He also said he believed in the political aspirations of ODM, having thoroughly read its manifesto.

Khan started cross-examining the witness yesterday afternoon and is expected to conclude tomorrow to pave the way for former radio journalist Joshua Sang’s defence team.

Bloodletting

 During his cross-examination-in-chief, the witness claimed that the bloodletting that followed the bungled 2007 presidential polls was spontaneous.

 He maintained that violence was triggered by the announcement of the results by the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK).

 According to the witness only identified as 326, from the way Kenyans had voted and the results were declared from the polling centres, they did not expect retired President Mwai Kibaki to carry the day.

“Violence just broke out because they (the electorate) had not expected the results,” he told the bench led by Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji.

 The witness recalled that there was a lot of tension at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), where the presidential votes were tallied, and people were charged.

 “People were charged and trading accusations about the electoral body and there were several press conferences,” he said of the events on December 31, 2007.

 He said at KICC, many people, including party supporters and elected MPs, were present and raised questions about why the results had not been announced.

“What happened is that most MPs who had been declared winners had travelled to Nairobi and they were also curious about why the results had been delayed. They requested the electoral body to announce the results,” he said.

 The witness recalled that after things started turning chaotic at the tallying centre, police officers whisked away the ECK chairman, the late Samuel Kivuitu.

 “Actually, before the results were announced, police started removing people from KICC. They picked the chairman and rushed with him to State House and in less than ten minutes, he declared the then sitting president the winner,” he said.

 On December 27, 2007, which was also the voting day, the witness said tension started building up in the country after the name of ODM’s presidential flag bearer, Raila Odinga, was found missing from the voting register in his Lang’ata constituency

 “People were wondering why his name was missing. In fact, Mr Kivuitu had to say that he should just vote with his name missing from the register,” he told Prosecution lawyer Ade Omofade.

According to the witness, the results for various parliamentary seats started streaming in at midnight on December 27, and continued until 30th. He, however, said the presidential results were announced a few minutes to 7pm after which violence broke out.