“This is what Odinga said before the General Election. He said that if the ODM does not win the election, there will be a major bloodbath in Kenya,” he told the court/FILE
During testimony led by ICC trial attorney Alice Zago, witness P0637 explained to the court that he heard Odinga make the remarks at a rally attended by 40,000 people in Kericho and also watched him on television making the same remarks.
“This is what Odinga said before the General Election. He said that if the ODM does not win the election, there will be a major bloodbath in Kenya,” he told the court.
According to the witness, there was tension after Odinga made the remarks, which caused people living around Kericho to start fleeing after casting their votes on Election Day.
“That is why Party of National Unity (PNU) supporters became afraid and the fear spread throughout the entire region of Kericho,” the witness said.
The witness said from Odinga’s remarks he and people attending the rally understood that there was going to be a ‘war’ between the ODM and PNU supporters.
Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji asked the witness to explain the remarks made by the former Prime Minister further, and tell the court what Odinga meant by saying there would be a blood bath.
The witness told the ICC judges that the remarks made by Odinga caused a lot of tension and fear that there would be violence if ODM lost the election.
Earlier, the witness explained to the court that the term ‘madoadoa’ was not used to incite people against others but was used to urge ODM supporters to vote for ODM candidates from the President, Member of Parliament to the civic positions.
The witness, who told the court that he witnessed incidents of violence, said he saw boys under the age of 15 running around carrying bottles of petrol and setting houses on fire.
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