Witness tells ICC Kalenjins in PNU were attacked

Deputy President William Ruto (centre), his wife Rachel (second left), journalist Joshua Sang (second right), Kenya’s ambassador to The Netherlands Rose Makena (right) and a family friend pray outside the ICC in The Hague, Monday.   [PHOTO: TABITHA OTWORI/STANDARD]

By MWANIKI MUNUHE in The Hague

A prosecution witness in Deputy President William Ruto’s International Criminal Court (ICC) trial Monday alleged that the Kalenjin supporting a rival party had their property destroyed.

The witness, whose longest part of testimony was in private sessions, claimed that houses and other properties of the Kalenjin who supported former President Kibaki’s party, the Party of National Unity ( PNU), had their houses torched.

The witness told the court how he moved from different locations only identified with digits and allegedly witnessed roadblocks, which he claimed were being manned by youth from the Kalenjin community.

“The first problem was location 8 to location 7. I went by foot your honour. There was problem of transport. Many roadblocks were located from location 8 to location 9. There were about 10 or even more than 10 roadblocks. It was stones and tree blocks that were used to block the road…They were all Kalenjins on the roadblock. I saw them with spears, rungus and banners…  The first thing you were asked was to identify yourself, where you come from and where you are going,” said the witness.

The witness told the court how his wife informed him of the fate that had befallen PNU supporters when he returned to his house that fateful day.

“By 8pm, I returned to location one. At that time of the night, my wife was telling me what had happened to some who were in PNU.  She was telling me how their house had been torched and property destroyed your honour. While I was in location number 5, I received some calls from people from my area telling me some houses belonging to PNU had been torched. They were PNU supporters who were Kalenjins,” he said

The witness further said the following day, after receiving information that the father of somebody only identified as number 18 had died, they went to his home to mourn with him. But the court went into private session before the witness could describe what they saw at the home of person number 18.

“The following morning, we heard that the father of 18 had passed away. I and some villagers went to his home to say sorry to him. We saw many things that I don’t want to mention,” he said.

The witness is expected to continue giving his testimony Tuesday.