Tell Kenyans your role in fixing Ruto, Raila tells Uhuru

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to come out and tell Kenyans his role in the alleged fixing of his deputy, William Ruto, at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Raila’s challenge that Uhuru explains ‘what his role was in the fixing of his deputy Ruto’ comes after weeks of criticism at prayer meetings and political rallies organised by the Jubilee coalition, and on the eve of the arrival of an ICC official charged with the investigation of Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria’s outbursts on the procurement of witnesses.

Raila’s accusation, released in an email from his Nairobi office, sought to spell out the relationship between the President and Mr Kuria, who sparked the storm with his own admission that he paid witnesses to give evidence on the disputed 2007 presidential election.

“Kuria worked for Uhuru Kenyatta from 2008... This is the period when, by Kuria’s own admission, witnesses were being procured against Mr Ruto,” Raila said.

He added: “Uhuru and the Jubilee team cannot claim to be ignorant of what was being done by his own employee, Moses Kuria... If not, Uhuru must tell the country.”

The former Prime Minister restated that Ruto, at the time, was a prime target of those who ‘stole the elections’ adding; “Facts as narrated above make claims by Jubilee a most preposterous proposal and one of the biggest lies ever peddled in our country.”

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader said: “It was rather awkward and hypocritical for some people to allege that the ODM leadership fixed our comrade William Ruto, who was at the centre of our negotiations.”

But Kuria said that contrary to claims by Raila that he worked for Uhuru around the time of the 2007-2008 post-election violence, he was in former President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity, while Uhuru was in Kanu.

Kuria said he only procured witnesses for the Kriegler and Waki commissions and it is upon the ICC to reveal whether it is the same witnesses that appeared before the international court.

“I have been very clear that I procured witnesses for Kriegler and Waki. I will very soon say who those witnesses were. I will make it public and I will do it on oath. It is upon the ICC to tell us if these are the same witnesses they depended on,” Kuria told a press conference at Parliament buildings.

The MP further claimed that Raila’s sentiments proved that he had a hand in Ruto’s ICC woes, and wondered why he (Raila) had referred to Ruto as ‘a comrade’ yet at one time he said that the DP ‘belongs to Kamiti’.

“Since he has admitted that Kriegler and Waki led to the ICC, then we can see his hand in fixing his comrade. The last time I checked, he said that both Ruto and the President belong to Kamiti. At that time, he did not use the word comrade,” added Kuria.

He asked Raila to record a statement with the police and the ICC absolving Ruto from any responsibility.

“He was a co-principal and he received the Waki envelope with Kibaki,” Kuria said.