Bensouda: ICC witnesses ‘clean up’ in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s case was done long after poll chaos

Njee Muturi, Persecution claimed he was an intermediary

NAIROBI: Part of the evidence the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution intended to table covered the period in the aftermath of the post-election violence, which saw efforts to cover up President Uhuru Kenyatta’s involvement to avoid criminal prosecution.

“These actions constitute consciousness of guilt evidence,” the prosecution was to argue.

The mission involved threats, bribery and intimidation of witnesses.

Another course of action was to try and retrieve weapons and other materials such as police uniforms, which had been given to Mungiki members for use in the attacks.

The prosecution claimed Uhuru used Josephine Michuki, the wife of then Internal Security Minister John Michuki and a Mr Machira to contact Mungiki members to return the gear.

SYSTEMATIC ELIMINATION

The prosecution intended to prove that about eight Mungiki members dealt personally with Uhuru and his agents were systematically eliminated.

“These killings and forced disappearances were part of a “clean up” campaign to conceal the accused’s involvement in the PEV.”

The prosecution intended to adduce evidence that in February 2011, three witnesses who were Mungiki insiders, were approached by defence intermediaries, including Mbuthi Gathenji and State House operative Charles Waithaka, and asked to identify witnesses to testify for Uhuru.

The intermediaries told witnesses 11 and 12 that funds had been “set aside” to buy witnesses. The intermediaries stated that individuals who “volunteered to defend Uhuru and to say Uhuru did not use Mungikis” would be paid a large amount of money.

The prosecution claims their Witness 4 was tracked down by intermediaries purportedly acting on behalf of Uhuru and bribed to withdraw his testimony. The intermediaries included Uhuru’s personal assistant Njee Muturi, (now Solicitor General) and Bildad Kagai.

WITHDRAW STATEMENTS

In exchange for withdrawing his testimony, Witness 4 was paid substantial sums of money and land was purchased for his family. The intermediaries informed Witness 4 that if he refused to withdraw his statements, his family would be harmed.

The prosecution claims that shortly after they had disclosed the identities of witnesses 11 and 12 in August 2012, Uhuru’s intermediaries attempted to locate them with an offer of a deal not to testify. The intermediaries included former Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu.

“In a series of controlled telephone conversations recorded by the Prosecution, Waititu told Witness 12 he wanted to meet with him to discuss assisting Mr Kenyatta to “solve this fight” and that there was a “lump of money to be given”.

The prosecution adds, “Mr Waititu indicated he had spoken about the scheme to Mr Kenyatta and was keeping him informed of its progress. He explained that Mr Kenyatta wanted to avoid “direct” involvement because he was worried about getting caught tampering with evidence.”