Head of State asked Kenyans not to worry about the ICC trials and instead focus on nation building/PSCU
Speaking in Kwale County on Wednesday, the Head of State asked Kenyans not to worry about the ICC trials and instead focus on nation building.
The trial against Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua arap Sang started on Tuesday but was adjourned a day later for lack of witnesses.
“We should stop politicking and focus on the national agenda. Even this thing that you hear coming from outside will disappear. There is nowhere it is going and at least we will now be able to do our jobs,” he said.
While seeking the adjournment, the Office of the ICC Prosecutor said that its first witness had not yet arrived in the Dutch country and would arrive sometime on Thursday.
Senior Trial Attorney Anton Steynberg said the earliest the witness would take the stand was next Tuesday.
“Your honour as mentioned in the status conference, the first witness is travelling as we speak. We expect her to arrive in The Hague on Thursday and we expect to begin immediately after the long weekend on Tuesday,” he said.
Kenyatta’s Deputy William Ruto has already jetted back to the country as a result of the adjournment.
Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji regretted that the witness was not present during the opening statements as earlier expected at the start of the trial.
“Prosecution, I take it that you do not have any witness to present. It is a shame really because we were hoping to proceed today but that is the reality we have,” he pointed out on Wednesday.
The Prosecution also promised to give the defence an updated list of its witnesses after Ruto’s lead counsel Karim Khan alleged that three more Prosecution witnesses had dropped out.
“This being previous orders of the court regarding the defence entitlement that we should have at least the next 10 witnesses in order because the first three witnesses have withdrawn. We don’t know who is going to be the fourth witness. The prosecution should send us a revised list of the next 10 witnesses,” he said.
He also told the court that the defence should be furnished with an updated list of witnesses since three witnesses had dropped out after the Defence teams were given the list of the first 10 witnesses.
“We actually don’t know who is the second witness, is it 464 or is it 326? I would like the prosecution to tell us who is the second witness,” Khan stressed.
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