MP Moses Kuria with his lawyer Danson Mungatana. Photo FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 12 – As debate continues over who ‘fixed’ Deputy President William Ruto over charges at the International Criminal Court, officials at The Hague are closely following developments and are expected in Kenya by Wednesday to interrogate Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria who admitted bribing witnesses over the post-election violence.
It all started during a prayer rally in Mt Elgon on September 20.
It was here that Kuria revealed an elaborate plot to procure witnesses who testified before the Kriegler Commission and possibly the Waki Inquiry, and who it’s suggested were enlisted to testify before the ICC “since the prosecutor never conducted an independent probe.”
In his alleged ‘confession’ of the fixers, Kuria tagged along NARC Kenya chairperson Martha Karua whom he claimed was involved in the scheme.
READ: Moses Kuria confesses how he procured ICC witnesses
Karua has however denied procuring any witnesses and obtained court orders barring the Gatundu South legislator from dragging her name in the Ruto ‘fixing’ claims.
Kuria later received a request from the ICC’s Brendan Rook, who asked to meet him in Nairobi over his remarks regarding ‘procurement’ of witnesses.
In the email sent to Kuria, Rook told him that the court was interested in his utterances published and broadcast on media on witness sourcing.
READ: ICC asks Kuria to shed light on witness claims
Deputy President Ruto is facing charges alongside journalist Joshua arap Sang.
Kuria has agreed to testify for the two and the latest offer has come from former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s brother, nominated MP Oburu Odinga.
A series of prayer rallies have followed since ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda made an application that saw the Trial Chamber allow her to use prior recorded statements of witnesses who recanted their evidence at the trial stage.
The defence teams of Ruto and Sang, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda and the African Union have so far protested the move and have asked to be allowed as ‘friends of the court’ to submit their protest views about application of amendment to Rule 68 which allowed employment of prior recorded statements of five recanting witnesses.
READ: AU joins Kenya in objecting witness rule in Ruto case
Ruto and Sang’s lawyers are expected to file motions of no-case-to answer when the case resumes.
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