NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 18 – Rules and regulations that will guide the process of recording statements from PPOs and PCs by detectives from the International Criminal Court are ready and will be gazzetted anytime this week.
A meeting convened by Justice Kalpana Rawal to work on mechanisms of having the PPOs and PCs grilled by sleuths from the Hague Court was informed the rules had been finalised.
"We are all set… the rules are ready and will be gazzetted before Friday," lawyer Ken Ogeto who attended the meeting, said quoting an official sent from the Justice Ministry.
"We had fruitful discussions, we were all there representing our clients, I think what is now left is having the rules gazzetted then we start work," Mr Ogeto who is representing the PPOs told Capital News after the talks.
The official from the Justice Ministry told the meeting the regulations will have to be presented to the Cabinet Committee on ICC matters on Tuesday before they are gazzetted.
It is understood that the PPOs and PCs will start recording statements as soon as the rules and regulations are tabled.
"We can only move forward once the rules and regulations are established," Mr Ogeto said.
Other lawyers who attended the meeting chaired by Justice Rawal include lawyers Gerishom Otachi, Evans Monari, Ahmednassir Abdullahi, four state counsels and the Director of Public Prosecutions Mr Keriako Tobiko.
There were no representatives from the ICC in the meeting.
It was the third time the lawyers were meeting Justice Rawal to discuss the procedure to be followed when ICC investigators start recording statements from PPOs and PCs who were in office in five provinces before and during the post election violence of 2008, which was sparked by the Presidential results of the 2007 General Elections.
They include PCs Ernest Munyi (Coast), Abdul Mwasera (Western), Hassan Noor Hassan (Rift Valley), James Waweru (Nairobi) and Paul Olando (Nyanza).
The Provincial Police chiefs who were in the office at the time include Grace Kaindi [Nyanza], Everett Wasige (Rift Valley), King\’ori Mwangi (Coast), Francis Munyambu (Western) and Njue Njagi who was in Nairobi at the time.
The police chiefs and PCs have retained lawyers to avoid incriminating themselves in the ICC post election violence case which is picking up momentum by the day.
Over 1,500 people were killed and 500,000 others displaced after chaos erupted in most parts of the country.
ICC Prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo is focusing his investigation on leaders and security chiefs who organized or executed the deadly violence, never witnessed in the country before.
His investigators are already in the country helping him gather evidence which will be used to nail suspects with the greatest responsibility in the chaos.
Three weeks ago, he sent one of his leading investigators to Nairobi to collect specific minutes of security meetings held by senior government officials mainly in the security sector prior to the period of the chaos.
The government has dragged feet in giving out the minutes and has already chosen to surrender the minutes selectively, citing sensitivity of the security meetings.
Mr Ocampo is expected in the country later this month during which he will visit some of the areas which were hard hit by the violence before he issues arrest warrants for those he wants to prosecute for omissions or commissions in post election violence crimes.
Although there were many crimes committed at the time, Mr Ocampo has made it clear he is only interested in tackling Crimes Against Humanity.
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