William Ruto incited Kalenjins to kill Kikuyus, witness tells ICC judges

Kenya: A witness claimed on Thursday that Deputy President William Ruto incited the Kalenjin to kill members of the Kikuyu community in the aftermath of the disputed 2007 General Election.

He told the International Criminal Court (ICC) that Mr Ruto incited the Kalenjin to also evict the Kikuyu from the Rift Valley if his party, ODM, did not win the 2007 elections.

But Ruto's lawyers termed the allegations as false and a complete fabrication.

Ruto and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang are on trial for crimes against humanity said to have been committed during the post-election violence in 2007-2008. More than 1,200 people were killed during the violence.

The witness, who concluded his evidence yesterday, claimed Ruto made the remarks at a fundraising meeting for a secondary school in Eldoret on October 15, 2007.

At the fundraising, Ruto is said to have told the crowd the following: "These people, because they don't vote for us, the only thing is to kill them and remove them from Rift Valley."

The witness claimed that Ruto, then Eldoret North MP, asked he youth to come out and evict the Kikuyu when called upon.

The witness was being cross-examined by Ruto's defence team.

In his statement recorded with ICC investigators in July last year, the witness said Ruto was aware that the meeting was also attended by people who would not vote for him, especially PNU supporters.

There were about 100 PNU supporters in the meeting, the court heard.

But it emerged that the witness had not given the same evidence to the ICC investigators when he first met them in June 2011.

The witness claimed that Ruto used the word majimbo in his speech to prevent the police and intelligence officers monitoring the meeting from understanding his message.

District officer

The police were supposed to believe that he was talking about devolution, the witness said.

The witness said he could not recall what a school head teacher told the audience. He also could not recall what Ruto said about the construction of a library.

"I don't recall him talking about it. He only talked about voting and about the voting day," the witness said adding that he couldn't recall anything else the DP said.

Asked if the event was reported in the newspapers, he replied, "I don't remember seeing it in the newspapers.

I didn't even take time to go look for newspapers."

The witness said he did not report the events to the Eldoret police station boss.

He said he could not report the matter to the local district officer (DO) as she was a frequent visitor to Ruto's home.

"At that time, the DO was a woman who used to visit Ruto's home regularly.

No one would report anything to her as the message would still go back to Ruto," he told the Trial Chamber.

The lawyer informed him that the DO was a Kikuyu by the name Rebeca Muturi but the witness said he could not remember her name.

"She had not stayed there for a long time and I had seen her only once," the witness said.