By FELIX OLICK

NAIROBI, KENYA: Attorney General Githu Muigai has hinted that the Government may defy the International Criminal Court (ICC) and decline to compel eight witnesses to testify against Deputy President William Ruto.

The AG described as ‘a set up’ the threat to refer Kenya to the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) for non-compliance.

Backing his arguments with the dissenting opinion of judge Olga Herrera Carbuccia, Githu said the decision by the majority "negatively impacts on the integrity and sovereignty of Kenya as a nation-State".

"This is improper and certainly not fair," he stated.

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On April 17, the judges by majority allowed an application by the Prosecution to have the Kenyan authorities forced to present the witnesses using all means available under the laws of Kenya.

Appeal decision

The eight witnesses, whom ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has described as ‘insiders’, variously gave statements to the court investigators but later withdrew from the process.

Ruto and his co-accused Joshua Sang are seeking to appeal the decision.

But according to the AG, who is also the Government principal advisor, the application should not be construed as an indication of obstruction or non-compliance.

"Rather, the Government of Kenya has serious concerns about how the Chamber analysed the relevant legal instruments under international and domestic law and how the laws were ultimately found to coalesce into binding the GOK as a State Party to compel witnesses to testify – against  their will and on the threat of sanction – in the proceedings at the ICC," he stated.

The Chamber granted the applications for witnesses 15, 16, 336, 397, 516, 524, 495 and 323 to be summoned, after being convinced that their evidence would be critical.

Ms Bensouda insists that the witnesses are crucial in proving her charges, saying Witness P0015, for instance, has evidence that Ruto organised and bankrolled the violence that engulfed the Rift Valley in the aftermath of the 2007 elections.