Raila declines to record statement over Kuria’s utterances

Raila Odinga will not record a statement with any State agency over the pronouncement by Moses Kuria on Kenyan cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC), his legal advisor Paul Mwangi has said.

In a statement sent to media houses, Mwangi said the CORD leader will not indulge the “idle curiosity of investigative agencies by recording a statement” adding that Kuria should be charged for the confessions that contravene the International Crimes Act.

He said Odinga learned of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko’s order for him to record a statement through the media, saying he the ODM leader has ruled out adhering to the order.

“Hon Odinga finds it surprising that the Director of Public Prosecutions does not consider the confessions of Moses Kuria that he committed grave offenses against the Rome Statutes and the International Crimes Act sufficient to warrant his arrest and charge in a court of law,” read the statement in part.

“Paradoxically, the DPP finds the confessions serious enough to warrant the use of scarce public resources in an investigative inquiry of innocent Kenyans that were the subject of Kuria’s contrite outpouring.”

Mwangi said that investigative agencies must have “probable cause” before contemplating to engage any person in a manner involving the employment of police powers.

“Any cavalier ‘call and question’ exercise as the one suggested by the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Kuria case is an unjustified exercise of state power and amounts to harassment of persons and a flagrant derogation of fundamental civil liberties, a habit that is taking deep roots in the Jubilee regime,” he said.

Mwangi further stated that Raila’s belief is that “recording such a statement is meant to further the farce that the administration of justice and the rule of law in Kenya has become under the Jubilee administration.”

In his utterances last week, Kuria claimed that the PNU wing of the coalition government led by Narc-Kenya party leader Martha Karua for taking Deputy President William Ruto and Radio journalist Joshua Sang to ICC at The Hague.

The Gatundu South MP further accused CORD of opposing a local tribunal and instead pushing for the cases to stay at the ICC.

“We all know the violence experienced in 2007 came about because of political differences between PNU and ODM over the contested elections,” said Moses Kuria.

“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.”

CORD Co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka and Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar have also weighed in on the issue saying there is no point for Raila to record a statement at the DCI over the matter.

Speaking during a rally at Mukuru kwa Njenga Primary School in Nairobi, Kalonzo advised Raila Odinga against writing a statement regarding Kuria’s statement linking him to the woes facing Deputy President William Ruto at the Hague saying it is Kuria who should be investigated.

Later in the week, Kuria produced a letter allegedly written by Kisumu Senator Anyang Nyong’o dated March 11, 2011 petitioning members of the UN Security Council to try the case against the six accused Kenyans at the ICC in The Hague.

His statement has elicited sharp reactions from Raila Odinga, Anyang Nyon’go and Martha Karua who have called for his prosecution for allegedly misleading Kenyans.

In a rather oblique pointer on the on-goings in Kenya, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda warned leaders against interfering with cases at The Hague saying action will be taken against anyone found culpable of the offence.