State calls for probe of Ocampo's conduct

The government now wants an independent external entity to investigate the conduct of former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.

This, the government said will lay bare the details and nature of investigations carried out.

This comes after Ocampo's leaked e-mails to the court’s Independent Oversight Mechanism in October last year. In one of the hacked e-mails to former UN Secretary General the late Kofi Annan, the former ICC prosecutor is alleged to have proposed to allow President Uhuru Kenyatta get “an honourable exit” in the case against him before The Hague.

He allegedly wanted Annan to send an envoy who was not a lawyer but African to implore the court to drop charges against Kenyatta. Annan is said to have responded: “We are indeed living in interesting times….let’s wait and see.”

And at the 17th session of the Assemblies of State Parties to the Rome Statute at The Hague, Solicitor General Ken Ogeto welcomed ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's efforts in instituting investigations and taking action against those found culpable for professional misconduct. “The allegations against the former prosecutor should not be swept under the carpet,” Mr Ogeto said.

This comes even after the court indicated that it was pursuing claims of tampering of witnesses in the Kenya cases. One of the IOM functions is to receive and investigate reports of misconduct touching on ICC staff such as judges, prosecutor, registrar, contractor and other staff.

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On funding, the government opposed any move by the member states to increase ICC’s budget for 2019, saying it was not merited.“We are yet to be persuaded by the court that the increase sought is merited, and would be very reluctant to agree to such increase in the near future,” Ogeto said.

ICC was also told that keeping cases alive despite flaws in the investigations amounts to misappropriation of funds.