William Ruto claimed top PNU officials and close confidants of retired President Kibaki fixed him over the 2007 post-election violence that landed him at The Hague. On Wednesday, October 16, 2013 at the ICC, Ruto’s defence team said the officials, two of whom are in top positions in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Administration, linked him to the election chaos.Ruto’s counsel Shyamala Alagendra linked Interior Principal Secretary Mutea Iringo, Senior Political Adviser to President Uhuru Nancy Gitau and former Justice minister Martha Karua to the scheme to nail Ruto. After the bloodletting that followed the rigging og the 2007 presidential polls, the three top government officials led the conspiracy that Ruto was the architect of violence that rocked the Rift Valley. The officials coached and bribed witnesses who would later testify before the Commission of Inquiry on Post-Election Violence that was led by Justice Philip Waki in August 2008. According to Ruto’s defence, the government, in a well-calculated move, went to the North Rift ahead of the Commission of Inquiry on Post-Election Violence that was led by Justice Philip Waki to coach and bribe witnesses. It is the same witnesses, they insisted, that later nailed Ruto before the Waki Commission on August 6 and 7, 2008. The counsel said that witnesses who testified before the Waki Commission were later taken into a witness protection programme under the watch of Iringo, who was then Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Internal Security. President Uhuru Kenyatta retained Ms Gitau and Iringo in his government and both work at Harambee House. The lawyer said those who were involved in the identification of witnesses to fix Ruto were Stephen Tarus, Abraham Limo, Bethwel Ruto and William Rono. She also revealed that before the Waki Commission landed in Eldoret, a group of lawyers associated with PNU went in advance to take their statements. Among the lawyers that the counsel identified included Mr Kamotho Waiganjo, a commissioner in the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC), Mr George Morara, Mr Peter Maundu and Mr Njenga Mwangi. Rutos defence argued that while ODM was struggling to prove that their presidential victory was stolen, PNU was cooking up evidence that ODM triggered the bloodshed.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 03:51:10 +0000
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