Reintroduce tribunal Bill, Mutula told

By Lucianne Limo

The International Centre for Policy and Conflict and Kenya National Commission on Human Rights have asked the Justice Minister to re-introduce the Special Tribunal Bill in Parliament.

KNCHR Vice-chairman Hassan Omar and ICPC’s Ndung’u Wainaina said it was critical to create a local process to ensure all perpetrators of post-election chaos are prosecuted. The International Criminal Court has narrowed suspects to 20 individuals.

"The minister should rush the Special Tribunal Bill to Parliament with necessary safeguards as soon as the pre-trial chamber gives its verdict on the Kenyan situation," said Mr Omar.

Mr Ndung’u said without a local mechanism to try perpetrators of post-election violence, there would be a grave impunity gap.

"It might be difficult for the prosecutor to gather sufficient evidence against all these suspects that would meet the criteria and threshold of admissibility to the court to enable their prosecution," he said.

Serious crimes

However, he added, if the prosecutor is allowed to conduct official investigation in Kenya and finds the evidence not sufficient for ICC, he will be forced to issue sealed indictments of suspects and evidence he has gathered to the Government to try them locally.

"He will only prosecute those suspects and crimes as set out by the Rome Statute. This makes it inevitable to enact a special tribunal for Kenya to try all suspects who committed serious crimes," Ndung’u said.

He said the civil society would this week initiate the process of re-introducing the private members’ Bill by Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara.

Ndung’u noted the civil society had written to the ICC expressing its concerns with non-existence of genuine national judicial proceedings and its implications in the country.