NAIROBI, Kenya, May 31 – Kenya’s Police Commissioner Maj Gen Mohammed Hussein Ali has prepared a lengthy document in defence of accusations of extra-judicial killings levelled against his department by the UN Special Rapporteur Prof Philip Alston.
The 11-page document seen by Capital News dismisses Prof Alston’s report as a “mere fabrication of facts” and maintains his officers do not execute suspects with impunity as documented in the dossier due to be tabled at the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday.
The defence document titled “ALSTON REPORT: WORK OF A BIGOTED ACTIVIST” accuses Prof Alston of “trading in cheap propaganda only aimed at vilifying Kenya’s security agencies.
“The summary by Prof Alston provides little substance beyond unfortunate obsession with the police and wild allegations lacking even an iota of proof,” the report dated May 30 and signed by Police Spokesman Erick Kiraithe states.
In his report, Prof Alston accuses the Kenya police of disregarding the law on many instances and executing some 500 Mungiki suspects between 2006 and 2009.
He has recommended the immediate sacking of Police Commissioner Mohammed Hussein Ali whom he accuses of running a ‘force that kills suspects with impunity.’
It is this reason that Maj Gen Ali prepared a defence report which sources told Capital News will be relied on by a high powered delegation to defend Kenya at the Geneva meeting on Wednesday.
The Government delegation will be led by Attorney General Amos Wako and Ministers Prof George Saitoti (Internal Security) and Mutula Kilonzo (Justice and National Cohesion).
Apart from defending the security agencies, Wako who is the Government’s Legal Advisor will also defend himself against allegations of ‘wielding too much prosecutorial power with little or no success’.
Already, members of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) who are coalition partners of President Mwai Kibaki’s government have distanced themselves from the defence due to be tabled in Geneva and instead says they fully support Prof Alston.
By so doing, it means that they support Prof Alston’s call for the sacking of Ali and resignation of Wako which must be followed by comprehensive reforms in the police, Judiciary and the AG’s department.
It is understood that all those mentioned in the damning report by Prof Philip Alston have equally prepared defence documents which will be summarised to counter the UN’s accusations.
In his defence for instance, the police chief flatly denies any existence of death squads in his force and maintains that officers under his leadership operates within parameters of the law.
Prof Alston says in his report that he gathered overwhelming evidence on how Kwekwe, a police death squad in Kenya has been hunting down Mungiki suspects, many of whom were either shot or strangled to death.
However, Maj Gen Ali denies all this and accuses Prof Alston of “relying on previous reports prepared by local human rights lobby groups which fabricated facts.”
“The recommendations he makes were handed to him by Kenyan activists keen to attract donor funding and are therefore neither interested in truth nor accuracy,” Maj Gen Ali’s defence report states.
And adds: “Prof Alston’s assertion that there was no need to assemble sufficient evidence to apportion blame to the Police is an astonishing disregard for due process and his deceitful misinterpretation of law,” Maj Gen Ali’s defence report state.”
The Police chief accused Prof Alston for failing to, “carefully investigate each allegation specifically and to obtain credible evidence which is verified to the fullest extent possible.”
Prof Alston’s report will be the subject of discussion at the UN’s Human Rights Council sitting in Geneva on Wednesday.
The Kenya Government which has been heavily indicted in the report has prepared a strong defence which will be presented at the meeting.
Under the UN regulations, the council may choose to ignore the report, or compel the Kenya government to act on its recommendations.
The report may also be taken up by the International Criminal Court (ICC) which will conduct independent investigations with a view of prosecuting those named in it.
Indeed, if adopted, the Kenya military will not be allowed to participate in any future peace keeping missions for the United Nations and the African Union as recommended by Prof Alston because its officers have been accused of having played part in extrajudicial killings of Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) members in Mt Elgon.
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