MP Moses Kuria records statement with ICC over Ruto fixing saga

Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria Wednesday met officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over revelations that he fixed Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang.

The meeting between Kuria and the officials was held in a private room at a Nairobi Hotel and is said to have taken over four hours.

Speaking to the media, Kuria’s lawyer Danson Mungatana could not divulge the details of the meeting though stating that the Gatundu South MP had answered all the questions that the investigators, who arrived in the country on Tuesday, had.

Meanwhile, 180 Members of Parliament have signed a petition aimed at halting the cases facing Ruto and Sang at the ICC in The Hague.

The Legislators called for thorough investigations into the alleged procuring and bribing of witnesses in the cases against the two.

Pokot South MP David Pkosing, who launched the signature collection process, has said he will file the petition at the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) meeting and the United Nations for consideration.

The petition will be presented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the ISP meeting slated for November.

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) chair John Mbadi is among the MPs who have signed the petition.

On Tuesday, Kuria recorded a statement at the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) over his utterances that have sparked a war of words between himself, CORD leader Raila Odinga and Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua after he said that they played a pivotal role in fixing Ruto and Sang.

In his public address last month, Kuria said the cases at the ICC are politically motivated noting that in the aftermath of 2007/08 post-elections violence, both ODM and PNU wrote to the international court pointing an accusing finger at each other over the skirmishes.

“Both ODM, led by their party leader Raila Odinga and Kisumu Senator Anyang Nyong’o, and PNU, led by myself and Martha Karua, sent letters to the ICC with names of individuals suspected to be behind the violence.”

Appearing on Citizen TV’s The Big Question show on Tuesday, Kuria stuck to his utterances though apologised to Kenyans for his role in fixing Ruto and Sang, while urging ODM leader Raila Odinga to do so as well.

He claimed that he paid witnesses Ksh 2,000 to give false testimony against Ruto and Sang saying most of those testifying against the two suspects were procured from the Kriegler and Waki reports.

“The Kriegler report was a political affair. ODM procured witnesses to testify that PNU rigged the elections while PNU, on their part, procured witnesses to defend their win,” said Kuria.

Odinga and the then Secretary General Anyang Nyong’o have distanced themselves from Kuria’s claims while calling for his prosecution for interfering with ICC cases.