David Matsanga and John Kimani have named ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Justice Waki and Kenya’s Attorney General Githu Muigai as respondents in the suit/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 10 – Two activists have filed a case in court seeking the disclosure of the full list that Justice Philip Waki handed over to former UN chief Kofi Annan on the 2007-2008 post election violence.
David Matsanga and John Kimani have named International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Justice Waki and Attorney General Githu Muigai as respondents in the suit.
“To successfully proceed and prosecute his application at the ICC, the 1st petitioner (Matsanga) urgently requires that he be availed with part of the report by CIPEV which is unlawfully, unreasonably and illegally held by the respondents herein without any justification whatsoever,” the two stated in their petition.
Matsanga explained that his petition should be heard before March 23 when the International Criminal Court is supposed to issue its verdict following another application in which he contested admission of the Commission of Inquiry into Post Election (CIPEV) report.
He said he made the application on February 15, 2015.
Matsanga and Kimani appeared before Justice Issac Lenaola who certified the case as urgent and ordered them to serve all the respondents before March 19 when the matter will be heard.
In their filing, the activists argued that disclosing the names on the Waki ‘secret envelope’ is in the public interest.
“The continued withholding of part of the report produced by a commission of inquiry appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act Chapter 102 of the Laws of Kenya, has led to unnecessary speculation and namedropping about the likely persons contained in the secret list of 20 names contained in a report held by the respondents,” Matsanga explained.
He further alleged the continued speculation of the names in the secret envelope has also been used to set political scores among rival politicians in Kenya.
According to the Ugandan activist, if the names are made public, it will give relevant institutions a chance to implement recommendations regarding their alleged role in the violence.
“The disclosure of the contents and names contained in the sealed envelope is extremely necessary and important in implementing all the recommendations made by CIPEV and also to enable mandated State agencies take any additional and/ or extra action regarding the said report if at all,” he said.
In May 2012, a group of youths petitioned former President Mwai Kibaki to order for the list to be made public.
READ: Youths now want Waki envelop made public
The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) also asked Annan who was the chief mediator during the national and reconciliation talks following the disputed 2007 elections to make the names in the envelope public.
However, former International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo said the names would remain secret.
He said once the ICC opened the envelope to review evidence that could add value to the investigations of the two Kenyan cases, it would be sealed and kept a secret.
Waki led CIPEV that was investigating the violence that left over 1,000 people dead and over 600,000 others displaced.
As a result, Waki and other commissioners listed people who they said were responsible for orchestrating the violence through planning and financing perpetrators.
When Gavin Alistair McFadyen, a former member of the Waki Commission testified during the trial against Deputy President William Ruto and Journalist Joshua arap Sang, he said Ruto’s name was among those contained in the envelope.
READ: ICC judges accept Waki report in Ruto, Sang case
He also said Sang’s name was not among them.
The Waki report has since been admitted as evidence in the case against Ruto and Sang.
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