David Matsanga with his lawyer Waithaka Nguruiya leaving Milimani law courts after high court directed the suit seeking to compel the government to make content of justice Waki secret envelope public.
BY SAM ALFAN.
A case filed by Ugandan scholar David Matsanga seeking to have the list of alleged post-election violence perpetrators made public, will be heard next month.
Mr Matsanga filed a suit in the High Court through his lawyer Waithaka Nguruiya seeking to compel the government to make public a report on the post-election violence prepared by the Waki commission.
The hearing will also include the participation of the Kalenjin Council of elders, under the Myot Welfare Association, who were enjoined in the case as interested parties.
More than 1,300 Kenyans died and score others were injured while thousands were displaced in the mayhem that followed the December 27, 2007 general elections.
The High Court had allowed the elders to be enjoined in the case so that controversy surrounding the envelope could be argued and determined as a whole.
The parties will return to court next month where the question of increasing the number of judges to at least three will also be discussed.
Kalenjin elders represented by lawyer William Arusei said they want to be part of the case because they were adversely mentioned during the commission of inquiry into post-election violence chaired by court of appeal Judge Waki. They said they were not given a chance to defend themselves.
The lawyer said the report made assertions which could belittle, defame or prejudice the Kalenjin people. “The elders’ response was not sought before the report was published,” Mr Arusei told the court.
Unless the allegations were challenged, the past, present and future generations of Kalenjin would suffer prejudice in Kenya and beyond.
Dr Matsanga wants the government and the International Criminal Court compelled to make public the Waki Report.
He said he had filed a case at The Hague-based court and needed the report to advance it.
The Waki report was presented to President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga in October 2008.
The commission then gave an envelope containing the names of alleged perpetrators of the violence to Mr Kofi Annan, who brokered a power-sharing deal between Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga.
The names were finally handed over to ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in early 2009 after Parliament rejected the creation of a special tribunal to try the suspects.
