The larger Kenyan public came to know about the Witness Protection Agency (WPA) in 2013 when individuals the International Criminal Court (ICC) identified as witnesses in the cases (later dropped for lack of evidence) that ICC had brought against Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto for their perceived role in the 2007/2008 post-election violence needed protection to stay out of harm’s way.
The WPA, having come into effect in 2011, is charged with providing the framework and procedures for giving special protection on behalf of the Government to people in possession of vital information; individuals who must be shielded from intimidation or threat of death because of their co-operation with prosecution and other law enforcement agencies.
Ideally, WPA should be the safest place where witnesses enjoy anonymity and State protection, but a recent incident in which a 14-year girl disappeared from a safe house raises fundamental issues on whether WPA is able to protect witnesses.
A safe house should enjoy the same security status as a maximum security jail; a 24-hour surveillance, closed circuit television cameras, strict monitoring of movement and keeping records of visitors who come to the facility. Given these security measures, a 14-year-old girl under protection, and waiting to give evidence in a case in which a police officer is accused of defiling her cannot have the wherewithal to plan an escape from such a facility without the help of an insider, probably a police officer among those manning the entrance and exits. ICC witness Meshack Yebei disappeared under mysterious circumstances only for his decomposing body to be found in the Tsavo National Park after days of searching.
It behoves the government to expeditiously investigate the girl’s disappearance. There is urgency in ensuring that what befell Yebei does not befall the young girl. It cannot be assumed that she disappeared by herself, leaving everything at that.
When witnesses’ safety cannot be guaranteed by the State, the chances of some of the more serious cases, whether murder or sexual offences getting solved become thin. Criminals will defeat justice because terrified witnesses will not volunteer information knowing they could be abducted, or even be murdered.
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