CENTRAL Kenya MPs are seeking to raise Sh500 million shillings to help offset some of the legal costs that Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and the Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura are expected to incur at the Hague.
Seven legislators met at the Panafric Hotel in Nairobi yesterday to make preparations for a major fund raising event whose date is yet to be announced. The money will be solicited from well wishers through various means including mini harambees to be held countrywide, individual donations and through SMS money transfers.
Briefing the press on behalf of the MPs, the PNU secretary-general and Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi said they estimated each suspect will require at least Sh150 million for their legal fees.
He said that, after a consultative meeting, the leaders had resolved to show solidarity by assisting the trio to raise the money.“We have also commenced consultations with a view to setting up an SMS line where their supporters will contribute their money,” Kiraitu announced. Conservative estimates have put the total cost of the six going through a full trial at not less than Sh4 billion.
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua had in February caused a public furore when he announced that taxpayers would fund the legal defence for the the public servants. He disputed the Sh4 billion estimate without explanation.
Uhuru, Muthaura and Ali are due to appear before the International Criminal Court next week after the court’s chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo accused them and ODM’s William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and radio presenter Joshua Sang, of bearing the greatest responsibility in the post election violence.
Sang has also been raising money from his supporters mainly in Rift Valley. He raised Sh1.6 million at a funds drive held in Eldoret on Tuesday night and more money was expected to be raised at yet another even scheduled to be held tonight at the Railway Club in Nairobi.
Ruto has previously said he will take care of his legal costs himself and does not need anyone to raise money for him. He also declined the offer of support from ODM.
The ODM is divided over whether or not to hire lawyers for its party chairman Kosgey and its deputy leader Ruto. While a section of the party lead by the deputy secretary-general Joseph Nkaissery and the party’s parliamentary secretary Ababu Namwamba have announced that the party will hire lawyers for Ruto, Sang and Kosgey, the party secretary general Anyang’ Nyong’o has insisted that the party has not taken such a decision.
Yesterday Kiraitu said that while PNU had initially planned to raise money for their own people, if the party decided to include the ODM suspects in their fund raising, their target would be revised from Sh500 million to Sh1 billion.
Some of the MPs who attended the meeting included Kiraitu Mathira’s Ephraim Maina, Ferdinand Waititu of Embakasi, Lewis Nguyai of Kikuyu, Mukurweini ‘s Kabando wa Kabando and Nakuru town’s Lee Kinjanjui .
Earlier Kiraitu and Maina had intimated that the harambee will be in aid of all the Ocampo Six but Kabando interjected to clarify that it will only cover the three PNU suspects.
The plan has raised concerns with questions being asked why the MPs are rushing to bail out the Ocampo Six and yet they had failed to come to the assistance of thousands of internally displaced people who are still stuck in makeshift camps as the government claims it is seeking funds to resettle them. Just last week, Special Programmes minister Esther Murugi announced that Sh2 billion was needed to resettle over 7,000 IDP still living in 23 camps scattered across the Rift Valley.
The motive for the fund raising was intimated when Kiraitu accused Ocampo of deliberately politicising the Kenya case and demanded that it be expedited.“Justice delayed is justice denied. We call upon ICC not to be party to influencing and rigging the outcomes of 2012 election. We therefore, condemn any process that will subject the alleged perpetrators to unduly prolonged trials, thus denying them their right and opportunity to be elected in Kenya’s democracy,” Kiraitu said.
In Parliament, Narc-Kenya party leader Martha Karua warned the government against using public funds to pay the legal bills for the Ocampo six.
Contributing to the debate on a motion moved by Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta seeking the approval of Parliament to spend Sh36 billion between now and June, Karua said the suspects should fund raise instead of using public funds.
She questioned the allocations in the supplementary budget which Uhuru said was for enhancing security.“What is the enhanced security? Is it public rallies in support for the Ocampo Six?,” said Karua.
The Gichugu MP also said that public funds should not be used in campaigning against the ICC as some politicians have been doing. “This is a big boy’s club, never mind the ages of the big boys,” she added.
She said it was ironical that those who were presently opposed to the ICC process had voted against the Special Tribunal Bill when she brought in in Parliament in February 2009 when she was Justice minister. She said some of those who now wanted a local process had mobilized their allies in Parliament to ensure the same Bill is defeated.“Where did you vote? I stood before this House saying a local tribunal is the best for the country, but you said let’s not be vague, let’s go to The Hague. Hague has come, take The Hague quietly,” Karua said.
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