International Criminal Court to spend Sh3 billion on Kenyan cases

President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) and his deputy William Ruto. They are both facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. (Photo:File/Standard)

By Alex Ndegwa

Nairobi, Kenya: The two Kenyan cases are the costliest for the International Criminal Court (ICC) as it is expected to spend more than Sh3 billion over four years.

This year, the court is trying the Kenyan cases on a budget of 6.9 million euros (Sh788 million).

Next year, the court has proposed a budget of 4.7 million euros (Sh541.2 million) that will be considered during a crucial conference next week.

This is in addition to 15 million euros (Sh1.7 billion) the court was allocated last year and 2011, when charges against the accused Kenyans were confirmed.

The trial of Deputy President William Ruto and his co-accused Joshua arap Sang opened in September and is scheduled to resume next week after a short break.

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That of President Uhuru Kenyatta had been scheduled to start today but was postponed to February next year.

The court’s budget for next year is among the agenda for the 12th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC. It runs from November 20 to 28 in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Proposed Programme Budget for 2014 of the ICC details the “strategic dynamic evolution of judicial activities in the court” covering eight African countries where the court has intervened.

It details budgets for the cases touching on Kenya, Uganda, DRC, CAR, Libya, Cote D’Ivoire and Mali between 2009 and 2014.

An analysis of the figures suggests the two Kenyan cases have the highest average cost per case.

This year

For instance, this year’s allocation of 6.9 million euros (Sh788 million) for the two cases works out to an average cost of 3.45 million euros (Sh394 million) per case.

By comparison, the highest allocation for the year – 7.5 million euros (Sh858 million) for the six cases involving DRC – translates to an average of 1.2 million euros per case (Sh143 million).

It means the Kenyan cases are nearly three times more expensive to prosecute than the cases in DRC that involve warlord Thomas Lubanga who was imprisoned for 14 years.

The proposed 2014 budget of 4.7 million euros (Sh541.2 million) translates to Sh270.6 million for each of the Kenyan cases.

Comparatively, the highest proposal of 8.4 million euros (Sh964 million) for the six DRC cases – including that involving revel commander Bosco Ntaganda – works out to an average of Sh160 million per case.

 The court has also planned for any eventuality in the face of the spirited campaign by the Kenyan leaders to avoid having to be present at The Hague courtroom throughout trial.

“Additionally, in the Kenya cases, Chambers envisage having the accused follow the hearings via video teleconferencing (VTC) from Nairobi,” the 2014 budget proposal reads.

“This implies that, for all hearings in the Kenya cases, at least one VTC needs to be supported. It is also possible that VTCs will be ordered for some of the witnesses in those cases, increasing still further the need for an additional ALO/Courtroom Officer in 2014.” ALO refers to Associate Legal Officers.

The document explains that the enhanced budget assumptions on judicial and prosecutorial activities provide for a range of activities including pre-trial, trial preparation and trial hearings including the two Kenyan cases.

“The assumptions have been developed based on consecutive hearings. On the information currently available, the budget is based on the assumption that court hearings in all trials covered by the present budget could run consecutively until the end of 2014.

Parallel trials

“However, the need for parallel trial hearings could well arise in the course of the year as a result of case-specific circumstances and developments in the Kenya, and other cases, as well as of other judicial developments impacting upon the Trial Division’s workload that cannot presently be accurately determined.”

The ICC has since decided that the trials of Uhuru and Ruto will be staggered to allow them govern Kenya.

 Also the budget provides for Uhuru’s trial that has since been postponed.

The UN Security Council is due to consider Kenya’s African Union-backed petition for the deferral of the cases against Uhuru and Ruto.