Kenya: ODM And PNU Ready for Waki Probe

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The Nation (Nairobi)

26 August 2008
Posted to the web 27 August 2008

Oliver Mathenge And Bernard Namunane
Nairobi

The leaders of Kenya's two main political parties, ODM and PNU, will appear before the Waki commission investigating post-election violence on Wednesday.

ODM secretary-general Anyang' Nyong'o and his PNU counterpart, Mr George Nyamweya, said they will give their evidence later on Wednesday.

They were responding to a threat by the commission's chairman, Mr Justice Philip Waki, that they should appear by today at the latest or lose their chance to give evidence in person.

Fail to testify

If they fail to testify on Wednesday, they will only be allowed to present their testimonies through memoranda, the judge ruled.

Disagreements between President Kibaki's PNU and Prime Minister Raila Odinga's ODM over who won the presidential election has been blamed for the violence which led to the deaths of over 1,200 people and left more than 300,000 displaced from their homes.

The violence ended after two months with a power sharing deal negotiated by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

Contacted separately, ODM and PNU officials blamed the commission for what they termed as confusion over when their parties were to testify.

But Mr Justice Waki warned the parties and any other witnesses that should they will be required to present their evidence through memoranda if they fail to take advantage of the opportunity to testify in person on Wednesday.

He said political parties were not prepared to make their presentations despite being given a chance since the beginning of the week.

"We had hoped that this was the final day in Nairobi but the political parties have thrown us off balance as we expected them today (Tuesday). We will however be closing all our public hearings in Nairobi tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) and embark on writing our report," said Mr Justice Waki.

The violence began after President Kibaki was declared the winner beating Mr Odinga by a margin of about 250,000 votes. The crisis led to an African Union-led mediated talks that culminated in a power-sharing and peace agreement signed between the President and Mr Odinga on February 28.

On Tuesday, PNU and ODM protested at the summons from Mr Justice Waki arguing that it was the commission that had delayed their appearance.

Give evidence

Mr Nyamweya said that the party has always been willing to give evidence.

"We are ready, willing and we will go. We were just waiting for the opportunity to go there and give whatever information that we have," he said.

He described the summons as a surprise, given that PNU had never indicated it was unwilling to testify.

According to him, PNU officials were initially supposed to give their evidence on Monday but were later told to hold on because the commission had instead summoned Attorney General Amos Wako and some members of the Electoral Commission of Kenya.

"We were told the sessions had taken longer than they expected and that is why I was surprised to hear of the summons," said Mr Nyamweya.

And Medical Services minister Nyong'o said it was wrong for the commission to make the public believe that ODM had refused to appear before it. He said party officials were meant to appear before it on Monday but were told that Mr Wako and ECK chairman Samuel Kivuitu were testifying on that day.

Prof Nyong'o said the commission kept him waiting the whole day on Monday until it was agreed that they appear today. "There is nothing like an ultimatum because it is us who agreed to testify and we will do that tomorrow (Wednesday)," he said.

The Waki commission was set up as part of the deal struck between ODM and PNU to bring an end to the violence. Under the agreement, both parties were to share power equitably while the ODM leader, Mr Odinga, was to become Prime Minister.

Established on May 23, the commission is mandated to investigate the post-election violence that rocked the country at the beginning of the year.

The Waki team includes commissioners Gavin Alistair McFadden from New Zealand and Pascal Kambale from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The commission's final report will be submitted to the President and the AU Panel of Eminent African Personalities led by Mr Annan.

The commission will hold its final public hearings in Mombasa next week. It will then use the following two weeks to come up with its report as it closed its working schedule on September 22.

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