the group said all of them had received death threats/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 14 – A group of youth leaders who met President Mwai Kibaki in November 2007 at a meeting the ICC Prosecutor claims was for the outlawed Mungiki sect, are now demanding security from the government, following threats to their lives.
Led by the Deputy Head of Mission to Somalia Yvonne Khamati, the group said all of them had received death threats and are worried about their safety.
They have written to Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere, seeking protection in the wake of the threats, which they termed as “serious.”
“There have been several threats of violence up to and including death threats that have been sent via mobile phones,” their letter to the commissioner of police said.
They told Iteere the threats had been sent to Khamati, Patrick Ngatia, Joseph Kioko and Youth Fund Board Director Gor Semelang’o.
Last week, the same youth leaders petitioned President Kibaki to recall the secret Waki envelop and make the names of those mentioned therein public to ascertain that they were not adversely mentioned.
“We are therefore issuing this request in light of these recent developments trusting that it will receive the urgent attention that it deserves,” they pleaded.
They said they had reported the matter at the Kilimani Police Station under Occurrence Book Number OB- 83/12/3/2012.
The meeting with the President which took place at State House Nairobi on November 26, 2007 is subject of contention in the International Criminal Court (ICC) case facing four Kenyan suspects, including deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura.
State House has admitted having hosted the youth leaders but denies it was a Mungiki meeting called to plan violence in parts of the country as alleged by ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.
“Following these allegations our group has presented a petition to the President seeking the release of the Waki Envelope and all other annexes to the report, in order to enable us to establish the origin of the claims with a view to clearing our names,” the group said in the letter to the police commissioner.
The letter is dated March 13, 2012.
“We wish to emphasise that the group meeting at State House did not discuss Mungiki and neither did they engage in violence-planning activities,” they said, and explained that “we were involved in discussing matters to do with the presidential campaign and we were attempting to formulate strategies to mainstream the youth into governance through a Youth Marshall Plan and charter.”
The group tells the police commissioner in the letter that even their families were being harassed by unknown people.
“It is this concern that has informed our decision to request that your office provide us with security and assure the safety of our families, who are innocent victims whose lives are at risk due to the allegations that were broadcast to an international audience by the prosecutor claiming that we are members of the proscribed Mungiki sect and that we allegedly planned the 2007/2008 violence,” the group added.
Police headquarters has confirmed receipt of the letter from the group.
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