AfricaPress-Kenya: Political leaders allied to Deputy President William Ruto have slammed Directorate of Criminal Investigation boss George Kinoti (pictured) over the revival of the 2007/08 post-election violence cases.
Taking on their social media accounts on Monday, the leaders described Kinoti as a political gun for hire being to rescue the dying Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) and fuel ethnic animosity in Rift Valley ahead of the 2022 General Election.
Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika accused Kinoti of inciting communities and raising tension in the country by trying to reopen old cases.
She warned the State against using security organs to commit crime out of political desperation.
“When you see their hatchet Man Kinoti trying to raise tensions and incite communities against each other you know they are desperate! Hope they don’t kill people, burn houses to justify Kinoti’s statements,” she tweeted adding that Kenyans should live in peace
Kericho Senato Aaron Cheruiyot termed the move shameful and desperation from Kieleweke saying Kinoti will not succeed where the Kenya National Human Rights Commission and the Commission of Inquiry on Post-Election Violence (CIPEV) which was chaired by retired Judge Philip Waki.
“Very shameful of Kinoti to weave his unending political tales using victims of 2007 PEV. He cannot claim to have the capacity to do a better job than KNHRC and Waki commission,” he said.
He challenged the government to activate the reports of the two commissions that investigated the chaos if indeed they are not playing politics.
Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwah accused Kinoti of being used by brokers and conmen to fight political wars.
He told Kinoti to say no to politicians out to use him and his office to play politics with the lives of Kenyans.
“The political circus and shenanigans Kinoti has been taken through by these political brokers and conmen, from Fight against Corruption to now an attempt to drive ethnic animosity in the Rift to rescue BBI is appalling,” Ichungwah
Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr also waded in the debate saying the reopening of the cases on account of threats to individuals should be investigated.
He wondered why the State security organs failed to find any evidence in 2008 to try the perpetrators only to turn around now and claim they are preparing a watertight case against the offenders
“The re-opening of these cases on account of threats to individuals must be interrogated. When it was convenient, the State set up a task force which found no evidence to prosecute anyone in the 2007-8 violence,” Kilonzo tweeted.
Victims’ accounts
Kinoti on Monday pledged to prepare a watertight case against the 2007/08 Post-Election Violence perpetrators after receiving statements from some of the victims at the DCI Headquarters in Kiambu County Kinoti.
He said police have already collected 118 cases from witnesses and complainants which included 48 cases of forceful displacement of people.
He exuded confidence in the collection of evidence saying police will prepare a watertight case that criminal elements will find too difficult to escape.
“We will carry the bible and swear before the court saying that this person killed that person and grabbed his land,” he said.
The DCI in retrospect painted a grotesque picture of the incidents, where helpless children and elderly Kenyans died at the hands of inhumane attackers.
Choked by anger, Kinoti talked of a cleric who died on his knees begging his attackers to spare him but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
“Go and see the number of children who were burnt. Who were left like pieces of wood…like charcoal, old people who could not walk and were escorted to the hideout were burnt,” he said, as he referred to the statements by the witnesses.
Asked to reveal the regions where the victims came from within the country, Kinoti said he was not on a mission to profile Kenyans using their regions and ethnicity.
He expressed optimism on the country’s system adding that it has the capability to try the cases and serve justice to the victims.a
