Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
Isaac Ongiri
31 March 2011
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua yesterday said Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura will not resign as demanded by the ICC prosecutor Moreno Ocampo.
Mutua said that reports indicating that Muthaura was contemplating resigning were speculative. “Amb Francis Muthaura has not contemplated resigning and has no problem fulfilling the conditions given by the International Criminal Court,” read a message Mutua posted on his website.
Citing unspecified provisions of the international laws, Mutua claims the court cannot arrest people for violating certain conditions before they are indicted.”This is not accurate because as per international law and basically all laws, you cannot be arrested or held unless you have been indicted,” Mutua said.
He described as rumours talks of possible arrest of Muthaura and other suspects seen to be violating any of the ICC conditions.”The summoned have not been charged and the decision to either charge them or not has to come after they have presented their side of the story and a decision is made, several months later,” he said. He said talk of arrests of any of the suspects are null and void.
Ocampo’s top demand is that Muthaura must resign and relinquish authority over the police to give the ICC an opportunity to continue with investigations and interview police witnesses.
After the demand the ICC suspiciously rescheduled Muthaura and his co accused Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Post Master General Major General (rtd) Hussein Ali to April 8.
Former Cabinet Ministers William Ruto,Henry Kosgey and radio presenter Joshua Sang will appear before the court a day before Muthaura’sd group.
The prosecutor said that the ICC will not interview police witnesses unless Muthaura resigned this means that he failure to comply could be interpreted as obstructing the smooth operations of the court which may attract a warrant of arrest.
Former Congolese Vice President Jean Pierre Bemba was arrested in Brussels on May 23, 2008 after Ocampo’s request for a sealed warrant of arrest was grunted by Pre-Trial Chamber III.
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