Intrigues as former ICC witness family forced to flee home

By The Standard on Sunday Team

Kenya: For the second time this year, the family of former ICC witness John* (identity withheld) has been forced to flee their home due to fear of the unknown.

He was witness number 397 for the prosecution in the case facing Deputy President William Ruto at the ICC until April last year when he reportedly recanted his testimony.

On Thursday, ICC judges ruled that Kenyan authorities should compel him and seven other former witnesses who had also recanted their evidence, to testify.

Following an application by the prosecution, ICC judges, by a majority vote, agreed that these eight witnesses were crucial to the case having characterised them as “insider witnesses” with intimate knowledge of meetings.

Hostile neighbours

Early this year, John* fled to hide in Malindi, Kilifi County, after being banished from his native Uasin Gishu county by hostile neighbours. On March 8, he vanished again, apparently kidnapped on the outskirts of Malindi town by people who reportedly identified themselves as police, according to the last person with him. He was going to pay school fees at a school he had enrolled his children.

The last man with him before he was taken away was a motorcycle taxi operator. He cannot be traced anywhere in Malindi, according to the police and his family.

His family has fled Westwards again for safety and out of financial want as conspiracy theories thicken and spread over his disappearance last month and police apparent inaction over the matter.

Most police officers in Malindi and Kilifi told The Standard on Sunday: “this is a very sensitive matter touching on state security” and pleaded to be left out of it.

The few who spoke admitted they had made no headway in the alleged investigation and even tried to throw cold water on a statement by Jane* (identity withheld), the withness’s wife, which she recorded at Malindi Police Station on March 10, two days after his alleged kidnap.

“We must certify that what she is telling us is true,” said James Kithuka, the Kilifi County Police Commander when The Standard on Sunday sought to know the status of the alleged probe into the disappearance.

He claims the “case is still under investigation and the file is still open,” but independent reports indicate there is no such thing happening and that in fact, the trail has grown cold and the family left to their own devices.

Jane says: “Police admonished me very much for speaking with the Press when the story of my husband’s disappearance was published in your newspaper,” referring to the exclusive March 21 story in The Standard disclosing John’s disappearance.

Towards the end of last month, Jane and her five children vanished from their house in Malindi. The Standard on Sunday has traced her to Uasin Gishu, where she now lives with her parents.

“I had to leave Malindi because after my husband left I had no money to take care of them while living there,” she said Saturday, adding that “my children have now come to understand that their father went away but we are appealing to the Government to help bring him back.”

She told The Standard on March 20 that she first learnt of her husband’s disappearance from the boda boda operator and after two days of agony reported to police on March 10.

She disclosed that “we have been living in this place for three weeks” but added that her husband kept most of his secrets to himself and did not discuss the ICC or other matters openly with her.

Jane also disclosed that her husband remained in contact with one of his brothers in Uasin Gishu.

She claimed her husband was flagged down by men in a taxi after someone spoke with him on his or the boda boda operator’s cell phone.

“The boda boda person told me that the men in the taxi identified themselves as policemen and wanted to talk to him,” Jane told The Standard on the telephone from Kilifi last month.

She alleged that the strange men also forced the motorcycle rider to accompany them on a ride outside town, where he and his motorcycle were abandoned. She claimed the boda boda rider told her later that as her husband was bundled into the taxi, one of the strangers climbed onto the motorcycle and directed the movement out of Kilifi town.

It was not clear how the alleged boda boda rider traced John’s house and wife, but Jane says he gave her a cell phone number that has not been active since March 8.

Jane says her statement to the police reflected this version and events.

On Friday, she said police were annoyed with her for speaking with the press. Kithuka argues that although police have not discounted her story, it can also not be taken as gospel truth.

“We are not discounting her story but as investigators, we are always careful because someone can bring some information when he or she is actually concealing certain information. So we took her statement but we are still investigating,” said Kithuka.

The police commander admits that so far “we have found nothing” in the search for John.

The Standard on Sunday has learnt that two teams of investigators have visited Malindi twice, apparently in the accompany of ICC investigators to search for information.

Jane claims these people (investigators) visited her house and interrogated her several times and “we are still in touch with them but all they have been telling us is to wait,” a view supported by her daughter who spoke with her father on cell phone about two weeks before he disappeared.

“We are always being told that police are investigating but we have not seen results,” the daughter, who says despite disclosing his father’s disappearance to the media, police have not seen it fit or important to interrogate her.

Instead, she says all that has happened is that investigators from Nairobi dumped a cell phone number with Jane belonging to a Ms Judy, who is apparently with the  police in Nairobi, with instructions that the family stays in touch with her.

She says they planned to record a statement with the alleged investigators but they did not return as promised after their last visit to Malindi.

They told The Standard on Sunday that police tell them that they are unable to find the alleged boda boda rider even after visiting his house in Malindi.

“The boda boda rider has disappeared upto now and the police told me that they went to his house but did not find him,” she says.

Kithuka declined to discuss the alleged rider’s name or whereabouts.

Unknown people took the witness away after staying at his supposed hideout for just three weeks, according to his family.

Witness programme

His disappearance sparked panic within the Malindi District Security department, with Malindi OCPD Kiprono Langat saying last month that “the matter is being handled by the DCIO”. The DCIO turned out to be on study leave at that time.

The Standard  first covered his tribulations on December 31 last year, indicating he withdrew cooperation with the ICC on April 5 last year but still fled his native Beshabor village in Uasin Gishu after neighbours descended on his homestead wielding weapons and baying for his blood on December 29 last year.

The story showed that the invaders burnt and wrecked the homestead despite an assurance of safety by security chiefs. On December 31 last year, he was quoted saying that he was willing to return to ICC witness programme and accused the government of failing to protect him after he complained that he was being chased “up and down like an antelope” and blamed a local chief and teacher for his troubles. He claimed the teacher wants to occupy his farm while the chief was aware of his tormentors.

To inflame hatred against him, he claimed local rivals accused him of being a sorcerer.

On March 20, his daughter told The Standard that after fleeing Uasin Gishu, her father secretly rented a house in Malindi at a place she did not know as she does not live with him.

“After fleeing our home (in Rift Valley) he settled in Kilifi with the family and enrolled the children in a local school,” she said adding that on March 8, he was taken away as he rode to pay school fees.