Why carrying an ICC witness tag is a risky and deadly affair

In the beautiful lush green Besiobor village in Uasin Gishu County is a deserted homestead. The once bubbling home is completely abandoned and the road leading to its compound bushy.

Inside the sitting room lies an old dusty lantern lamp, and in the bedroom is a broken electricity metre box. This is where ICC witness John Bureti once called home.

Trouble started for the once happy family after Bureti came back from a three-month stay in Tanzania. Villagers accused him of being an ICC witness against the Deputy President William Ruto and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang’. He was forcefully ejected after he was branded a sorcerer and accused of having bewitched and killed a woman.

“They falsely accused my brother of practising witchcraft because of a land tussle between him and the neighbour. Everyone knows it was because of his alleged association with the on-going case in The Hague,” says Joseph Sitienei, Bureti’s younger brother.

A woman in Bureti’s neighbourhood, who The Standard On Sunday interviewed, insists Bureti was a ‘sorcerer’. “We descended on his house on December 29, 2013 after the burial of a woman we believed he had bewitched. We did not want to live in fear of being under his spell,” said the woman, who sought anonymity.

However, his son Daniel Bureti maintained that his father never harmed anyone, saying ‘he had brought us up with much care’. Daniel says they never saw their father practice any kind of sorcery, but their woes only started when some villagers accused him of being an ICC witness against the DP.

When The Standard On Sunday visited the family last year, they found Bureti seated deep in a thicket, with a black briefcase, bow and arrows to defend himself from the villagers baying for his blood. His helpless young sons had camped with him in the forest.

He matched the codes of the briefcase he held dearly in his forest hideout and from it removed documents that showed he was an ICC witness number 0397 and another copy indicating he had recanted his statements citing overly politicisation of the case and reconciliation reasons. He said his aggressors were after his life because of his involvement in the ICC cases and not because of witchcraft.

Later, Bureti is alleged to have sought refuge in Kilifi early last year, according to Sitienei, that is where they lost contact with him on March 28, last year. Since then, his family and friends do not know where he is. “We have not heard from him, we are always wondering about his well-being. A report about his disappearance was made at Malindi CID offices,” Sitienei said.

A police officer in Malindi, who sought anonymity, said Bureti’s file was still open and that the matter was being handled by the DCIO. The family expressed concern over his disappearance.

“The death of Meshack Yebei, another alleged witness just two villages away from here, has renewed trauma in our family circles. Our father disappeared in a similar way, and it is most likely that he might have gone through the same fate, with all this silence. No one, even the ICC, is saying anything to us,” added Sitienei.

Daniel is crestfallen by the news of Yebei’s alleged death that is also shrouded in mystery. He thinks his father, who was Yebei’s friend, might as well be dead.

“The last time I heard from my father is when he was rescued from the forest by members of the Press and local authorities from the wrath of villagers who accused him of practising witchcraft,” said Daniel. Currently, Bureti’s home is deserted. It is said that his two wives and 12 children left after he disappeared.

Several attempts

According to Sitienei, his missing brother had told him that he had gone to Tanzania, but did not explain what he had gone to do there. “It was just before the 2013 General Election, when my brother travelled to Tanzania and stayed there for three months, only to come back after the polls,” explained Sitienei. Bureti’s family has since disintegrated. While his children stay with Sitienei, his wife Esther, who lived with him in Kilifi, has since gone back to her paternal home in Sambut, Uasin Gishu County.

One of his daughters, Emily Bureti, told The Standard On Sunday on telephone that she had lost hope in the search for her father. “The last time I contacted him, my father told me he was in Eldoret and that he was safe. Several attempts to contact him after that were futile,” said Emily.

In a neighbouring village, at Kaptebee, sad faces invite you to the homestead of purported ICC witness Yebei, whose disappearance has remained a puzzle.

Yebei also bore the ‘ICC witness’ tag. He went missing from a market centre and a body thought to be his discovered in River Yala, near Nandi County. But police have since refuted claims that the body found in the river was his, and gone further to do a DNA test.

The body was found to be that of Yusuf Hussein, a tout in Nandi. Yebei had also twice reported threats to his life to the police, first in April 2013, and later in September last year. Ruto’s lawyer Karim Khan and a section of legislators allied to Jubilee have previously claimed Yebei was a critical witness in his (Ruto) case. Yebei was abducted last December 28 in Turbo Centre. He had left his wife and a sick child at a health centre in Turbo to buy water. According to witnesses, Yebei was bundled into a black car, which then sped off.

Yebei’s abduction and disappearance like that of Bureti is a clear pointer to how the association of an individual to the ICC cases that were initiated after the 2007/08 post-election violence is dicey, whether the connection with the court is proven or not.

Another Uasin Gishu resident, Richard Kemboi, recently reported threats to his life. Kemboi said he had received messages from strange phone numbers threatening to kill him over his association with the ICC cases.

A shaken Kemboi, giving reference to the circumstances that had befallen individuals associated with the ICC, said it was risky and deadly to be linked with the The Hague-based court. He reported the matter at Eldoret Police Station on Wednesday and security officials in Uasin Gishu are investigating the claims.

“Some people have been calling me and also sending bad text messages, accusing me of being an ICC witness, which I am not. I am afraid because those associated with the matter have gone through disheartening situations,” said Kemboi, who contested the Turbo parliamentary seat on a PNU ticket in the 2013 General Election.

Uasin Gishu County Police Commandant Nyaga Muchungu said he had ordered immediate investigation into the claims.

According to Ken Wafula, a human rights activist in Eldoret, individuals alleged to have association with the ICC are being targeted by ‘a hit squad’. He is calling on the Government and international community to protect such people.

“I have personally been threatened due to my open involvement with primary investigations to the ICC matters. Any witness, prominent person or individual who withdrew from the matter needs to be properly protected or will be eliminated as it has happened to some,” said Wafula.

He said several other people linked to the ICC matter are missing, sparking fear among their families. “The families of Philip Arusei, Benjamin Kipchumba and one Madam Miriam don’t know where their kin are. These people were linked to the primary investigations after the 2008 post polls chaos. The Government needs to intervene and unravel the mystery of their disappearance,” Wafula said.