Monday, May 13, 2013

AG to lead delegation to Hague for meetings


MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY OLIVER MATHENGE
A high-level delegation led by Attorney General Githu Muigai is preparing to travel to The Hague this week to meet ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
The Wednesday trip comes at a time when the government has been forced to disown a letter sent to the Security Council by the country's permanent representative at the United Nations, Macharia Kamau.
On Saturday, Githu disowned the letter by Macharia asking the Security Council to terminate the two cases against the three Kenyans at the ICC.
The Government's Chief Legal Advisor however said that Kenya was not a party to the cases before The Hague-based court but that it will continue cooperating with the ICC.
"The official position of the Kenyan government is that it has cooperated fully with the ICC and intends to continue cooperating within the framework of the Rome Statute and International law. The government applied to co-operate with the court and we were granted. In pursuit of this, a high powered government delegation will be at The Hague next Wednesday to meet court officials," the AG disclosed over the weekend.
The Kenya team will seek audience with the Prosecutor, the court's Presidency and the Registry. Among the issues set to come up for discussion is how fast the cases can be dealt with and that of co-operation.
According to Githu, the government hopes that the two cases shall be resolved expeditiously in accordance with the applicable law.
Two weeks ago, the government was allowed to make a comprehensive response to Bensouda's claims that Kenya has not been co-operating with her office.
On Friday, Bensouda responded to the application filed by Githu in which the AG complained that Bensouda has disgraced the Kenyan government by repeatedly claiming it is not cooperating fully with her office.
Githu cited recent comments by Bensouda that part of the reason she dropped the case against former Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura was lack of cooperation from the Kenyan government.
"The Government of Kenya disapproves of any attempt by the Prosecutor of the ICC to excuse evidential gaps or difficulties in her case as being attributable to action or inaction by the Government of Kenya," he said.
Githu said the government has complied with all 37 requests by the prosecutor apart from two—those that relate to the request that the government furnish the court with financial information on the three suspects and statements of the interviews of ten police bosses.
On the financial information, Githu said "Kenya contends that there has to be a court order in place to fulfill this request." In any case, he added, the pre-trial chamber found out that such a request lacked justification.
On the police interviews, Githu said there was a court order issued on February 1, 2011 prohibiting judge Kalpana Rawal from "taking or recording any evidence from any Kenyan” pursuant to any international criminal court process.
"It cannot be right that a State's internal security is suborned by an outside agency's ill supported allegations of non-cooperation which has the potential to erode national regard for the institutions of government and their compliance with the rule of law," Githu said.

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