Ocampo wanted Ali to testify against Uhuru
Former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo
The fresh revelations indicate the prosecution, then led by Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, reached out to Major General Ali to testify against Uhuru and former Head of the Public Service Francis Muthaura. This was on promise that charges against him would be dropped. But the former police boss rejected the bait. The turn-around by the ICC to dismiss Ali’s charges on the condition was premised on developments in Kenya after Attorney General Amos Wako barred the police from speaking to the ICC.
Mr Ocampo was reportedly desperate for evidence, partly because some witnesses had been eliminated while others were no longer willing to testify because of alleged threats on their lives. According to the US-based newspaper, The New York Times, Ocampo admitted that evidence against Uhuru over his alleged involvement in the post-election chaos was not as tight as he would have liked it to be. And because of the scanty evidence that threatened conviction of any of the suspects accused of masterminding the violence, Ocampo turned former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga into a witness. Initially, the Prosecution had considered charging Mr Njenga alongside other Kenyans accused of the chaos that saw over 1,200 killed and 500,000 displaced from their homes.
Death threats
Ocampo heavily relied on testimony by the outlawed sect members, which informed his decision to switch Njenga from the suspects’ fold to a witness. Njenga, according to the report, had told ICC investigators how his group was involved in the violence. He had also detailed the structure of the outlawed group. Njenga did not testify in the proceedings despite expressing his willingness. The former prosecutor said although some of the sect members had been killed in “a clean-up operation”, others were still willing to testify. The crux of his evidence was on three “confidential Mungiki linkage”. In spite of relying on the sect members’ evidence, Ocampo failed to question Uhuru on the statement made by Njenga.
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