Row over real number of youths in custody

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Row over real number of youths in custody

Story by MUGO NJERU and SOLLO KIRAGU Publication Date: 6/24/2008
MPs calling for the unconditional release of youths arrested over the post-election violence were on Monday unable to give the exact number of people allegedly being held by police.
A group of youths shout at GSU officers on Nairobi’s Ngong road during the post-election violence early in the year. Photo/PETERSON GITHAIGAFour MPs at the centre of the campaign threatening to rock the 68-day-old coalition government disputed the figure of 103 suspects police insist are in custody.
However, they could not give their own figure. Agriculture Minister William Ruto, who has been at the forefront of the campaign to have the youths released, described the police figures as “obnoxious” but failed to indicate how many are in custody and where they are being held.
Murder and rape
But Police Spokesman Eric Kiraithe insisted that 103 suspects were in custody, facing charges of arson, murder and rape, among others.
The thorny issue of amnesty for the youths also threatens to derail the resettlement programme as host communities are now linking the release of the youths to the successful stay of returning internal refugees.
On Monday, Mr Ruto accused the Government of double standards in dealing with suspects of post-election violence.
“The police should also go for all those who were behind the violence, including political leaders, policemen and even Electoral Commission of Kenya chairman Samuel Kivuitu, instead of holding innocent youths in custody,” he said.
Addressing the press shortly after officially opening a workshop on food security in Africa at Nairobi’s Windsor hotel, Mr Ruto maintained that police were still holding many innocent youths over the violence.
“There appears to be two sets of laws; one for the downtrodden and another for the leaders in this country, which should not be allowed,” he said.
Mr Ruto said the magnitude of the violence was testimony that the problem should not just be wished away.
“Blame game or selective prosecution of people is not going to work,” he said.
The minister said the Waki Commission of inquiry into the post-election violence should be given a chance to complete its work before blame could be apportioned.
But Mr Kiraithe maintained that there were no unaccounted youths in their custody.
Specific charges
“Those arrested are facing specific charges of murder, rape and arson and those are the people we are holding. Those who were facing lesser charges like breach of peace were dealt with speedily and have gone home,” Mr Kiraithe said.
He said he had asked to be given an updated breakdown of the charges the suspects are facing, and he promised to share the information at an appropriate time.
Other sources, however, hinted that police were investigating reports that some leaders had recruited youths and were now under intense pressure to disclose their whereabouts.
Kipkelion MP Magerer Langat said the Cabinet should decide on the best method of dealing with the post-election violence suspects still in custody.
He said that the decision should be favourable to all parties. Mr Langat said ministers had the capacity to resolve the dispute and should not take the debate to the public.
“They are embarrassing the Government and they should not bring this small issue to the public since the public cannot solve the issue,” he said.
The ODM MP said the debate should be resolved immediately to allow Kenyans embark on building the country.
Konoin MP Julius Kones said the reconciliation will only be complete if justice is seen to be done on those suspects in custody. He said the charges were trumped up and “that is why they have not been charged in court of law.”
The Konoin MP said that they would push for the release of the youths.
Energy assistant minister Charles Keter said that the youths should be released unconditionally, since they were fighting for democracy.
“If leaders agreed to work together for the sake of the country, why then doesn’t the Government release the youths who were demanding for democracy?” Mr Keter asked.
He accused police of shooting and killing youths in Kericho, where a lawyer disclosed that there were only 13 post election violence suspects in custody.
Mr Siele Sigira said he was representing the group, which has been charged in a Kericho court. He said one is a minor while another is a Form Four student at Koitaburot Secondary School.
The suspects are accused of armed robbery and malicious damage. Their case will be heard on June 30.
About 60 people have been arrested in Nandi North and Nandi south districts and charged in court in Kapsabet over the post-election violence.
The violence suspects comprise 17 current and former civic leaders from the former giant Nandi districts.
The councillors were arraigned in court where they were bonded by the courts to keep peace for at least two years after they were suspected for having fanned the post election violence in the two Nandi districts.
Nandi-Hills and Kapsabet town bore the brunt of the violence after several businesses were looted and set on fire by arsonists.
A petrol station and ATM belonging to Pesa point in Nandi hills were burnt and cash amounting to millions looted during the violence as thousands of Tea pickers suspected top have been sympathetic to a rival political party were evicted from their houses in the sprawling tea plantations.
Buildings and business premises belonging to certain communities were selectively looted and set ablaze which to date have never been repaired.
Nandi leaders, led by Cabinet ministers Henry Kosgey, the ODM chairman, and MPs Mr Elijah Lagat (Emgwen) and David Koech (Mosop) have been calling for the release of those arrested.
The Three Nandi MP’s have instead called for investigations into the role the police played. They claim hundreds of people were killed by the officers countrywide.
They argued that, in Nandi no one was killed by protesters, and that one youth was killed by a stray bullet from police.
South Rift Law Society of Kenya Secretary Gideon Mutai claimed that there were many other suspects, but could not give the exact number when pressed to do so.
The claims come amid delayed resettlement of some of the displaced families who have been met with hostility by their neighbours.
Some Rift Valley residents appear to have changed their minds after initially expressing willingness to accept back the refugees who fled their homes at the height of the bloody chaos.
At least 46 people who had returned to their farms in Surgoi, Uasin Gishu district, fled back to the camps when the hostile locals asked them to leave.
The US has urged the country’s leaders to follow the law in dealing with the suspects.
Those arrested should be charged and prosecuted as prescribed by law, while the innocent should be released unconditionally, said the US ambassador to Kenya, Mr Michael Ranneberger, on Sunday.