The first appearance: Thursday April 7, 2011
The city cast her people out on her, and Antony, enthroned in the market place, did sit alone, whistling to the air, which but for vacancy, had gone to gaze Cleopatra too, and made a gap in nature - William Shakespeare (Antony & Cleopatra)
ON a cold morning of April 7, a bus pulled outside the main entrance of the International Criminal Court along Maanweg Road at The Hague in The Netherlands and from it disembarked group of MPs and relatives of the Ocampo Six.
The previous day, the group had been doing reconnaissance rounds in the court vicinity, a number posing for pictures at the front of the court which has sent shivers across African corridors of power.
After disembarking, they walked around the building to the court room entrance, clearing the front for the historic appearance of the first three suspects of Prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo in the December 2007-08 post-election violence case - William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and Joshua arap Sang.
At around 9:00am, the three pulled close by each other and the hour begun right then. Unlike all others, they were ushered in through the main entrance of the court by court officials. I dashed to the other side of the court along Regulusweg Road only to find the group of MPs milling around and waiting to get in.
They were speaking in hushed tones and bracing themselves for the appearance. I shoved past them using my media accreditation badge and positioned myself at the far end of the corridor leading towards the court reception.
Although the place is a no-photo zone, I saw a man taking video shots of the trooping MPs and immediately I went to claim my right to do the same. The receptionist whom I had acquainted myself with the previous day told me that because of the nature of the occasion, they would allow it.
I swung to action positioning myself at a vantage position where I snapped them as they trooped and lingered around awaiting instructions on where the galleries were and how to lock up their heavy wear.
Attorney General Amos Wako, Director of Public Prosecution Keriako Tobiko and Solicitor General Wanjuki Muchemi were part of this group headed for the public gallery. My journalistic instinct told me this would be a worthy photo - to capture the three important criminal justice officers in Kenya reduced to bystanders in a far away court.
Miguna Miguna, the PS Coalition Affairs and advisor to the PM, stood out in his towering frame and Muslim cap. As he strode through the corridor, the rest of the Kenyan delegation watched in disbelief that he had made true his pledge to attend “the mother of all funerals” as he wrote in the Star earlier on.
Only Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto was bold enough to shake his hand and ask him: “kwani hata wewe umekuja hapa?” I snapped my camera just at the moment Ruto shouted at me: “Huyu ni mtu mbaya sana.”
Shortly after they disengaged, Miguna, whom I had gone to interview at his small hotel room the previous day, whispered to me: “He is not genuine; you know it’s good for him,” intimating the photo was a PR stunt to the benefit of Ruto.
The delegation were strewn of all their attachments including the matching caps and their jackets which were all locked up before taking the stairs up the public galleries. Majority of them filled up the Public Gallery I. I was at the Public Gallery II.
Inside the sliding gallery, I took my position at my reserved seat in the second row and behind K24’s Jeff Koinange who sat at the far left first row. In front of us were two flat screens - one on the left and the other on the right - announcing: Kenyan case; ICC-01/09-01/11: First Appearance.
A glass wall separating us and the court was still blinded by 9:28am. Before it could open, Cabinet minister Njeru Githae accompanied by an aide came and sat behind me on my left. He didn’t fix his translation headphones, the aide did it.
At exactly 9:30am, the curtain was drawn and the reality of the appearance started to sink in. The court was well lit, well ordered and everyone but the judges had taken their position. On my right, the prosecution, my left the defence and directly opposite me were the court officials. Behind them was the row for the three judges.
Two pamphlets issued to all at the reception had offered an idea of how the courtroom was arranged. All had taken their positions except that the desks allotted to the legal representatives of victims were occupied by the Registrar of the Court and a few staff. One of the pamphlets had graphics of the actual participants dressed in the court regalia apart from the suspects. It also listed their names.
From my position I could not see William Ruto. However, the well dispositioned Henry Kosgey and the diminutive Sang were in my full view as were most of the lawyers. I was still dazed by the orderliness of the court when the judges led by the presiding judge Ekaterina Trendafilova walked in and took over the show by first apologizing for a three-minute delay.
Looking it through the Kenyan lens, it sounded odd for a person to apologise for a three-minute delay. Again, the reality was sinking home that we were 4,153 miles away from home. “Mr Ruto, Mr Sang and Mr Kosgey, good morning and welcome to the chamber,” Judge Ekaterina addressed them leaving aside the characteristic pompous and honorary titles the two of the three hold.
I remember flashing back to the Waki hearings of 2007 which I covered from start to finish and how the ICC route seemed so farfetched as Justice Waki inquired of it from International Commission of Jurist’s Wilfred Nderitu.
Then began the court session with one and half minute slotted for photographers to snap their shots, a court officer introducing the case and both sides introducing themselves.
Judge Ekaterina was very meticulous and circumspect. She did not waste an opportunity to exert her control over the proceedings of the day and long before the face off with Ruto she had warned of the seriousness of the court.
By 10:25am, the session was done and the judges first walked out before the curtains were once again drawn on us and we left the gallery. Outside the court, the MPs went for Ruto and ignored Kosgey and Sang’. By that time, they had already donned their matching Kenyan caps. Nominated MP Maison Leshoomo was the most conspicuous of them in her full Samburu woman’s regalia with a headgear to boot.
They mobbed Ruto congratulating him for a sterling court performance, sang the national anthem and the country’s pro-liberation songs. Ruto then spoke of the contradiction that was for a criminal court to go for innocent people like him.
After the interviews, Ruto and his entourage crossed the road for a live interview with KTN across the road and proceeded to walk to my hotel room for another live interview with Citizen TV. They left Sang behind at the steps looking forlorn and lost.
At that moment, I reckoned of the misfortune that is to be accused alongside big shots as Ruto and Kosgey, the latter whom had sneaked quietly and respectfully accompanied by his two sons and his lawyers.
The picture of Shakespeare’s Antony; the Roman general who was left whistling alone at an Alexandrian street as all attention went to Queen Cleopatra came to mind. All had left in trail of Ruto and he was left granting interviews to obscure foreign media.
I eavesdropped into one of the interviews and the anger within him was palpable when he swore that he was only waiting on the evidence Ocampo has so that he can, in his own words, “tear it apart.”
I crossed Miguna granting an interview where he relished the moment when Ruto was told to sit down. Shortly after the politicians had dissipated from the court vicinity, Ocampo called a press conference and dissociated himself from Kenyan politics.
Second appearance: Friday, April 8, 2011
Unlike the first day, the first appearance of suspects Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura and Hussein Ali was scheduled for the afternoon, 2:30pm Hague time.
Journalists had enough time to prepare ourselves in the morning and ease ourselves off the previous day’s pressures. We spent considerable amount of time at the court’s media centre filing advance stories.
Although Ali had arrived at The Hague on Sunday and earlier than Uhuru, none of us had seen him. We were assuring ourselves that he would be showing up at the court’s main entrance in not so long and we would snap the shots we had missed at the airport and the hotel.
Little did we know that the wily Major General was determined to play smart to the very end. He pulled outside the court’s entrance earlier than we had anticipated and as a result we missed the moment.
I was the most unlucky of my pack that day because I missed the arrival of the other two as well as I shuttled from the media centre to the main entrance back and forth. Satisfied they had all stepped in, we concentrated on the courtroom entrance where the MPs milled around.
The Kenyatta’s were the most distinguishable in their somberness. Looking at Uhuru’s wife Margaret, cousin Beth Mugo, sister Kristina Pratt and his uncle George Muhoho converse in hushed tones, you could tell the matter at hand was heavy.
William Ruto was engaged in a deep conversation with AG Amos Wako. Unknown to them, they stood right in the cyclist path running across the court’s perimeter fence. We continued snapping the photos until one mindless young cyclist rode straight into their way. The boy missed them by a whisker and left everyone - including the two heavyweights holding their breaths. Even a pro-suspects protester who held placards supporting the six was taken aback.
I spotted Lands assistant minister Wakoli Bifwoli leaning against a wall seemingly lost in his own thought. Besides him was Mary Wambui’s daughter Winnie Mwai who spotted very cool cornrows.
Near them lingered the silver haired presidential advisor on coalition, constitutional and youth affairs Prof Kivutha Kibwana who for the most part I ever saw him, talked to no one. I only caught him once speaking to Ruto’s lawyer Kioko Kilukumi outside the court.
Tired of waiting for the opportunity to get it, Joshua arap Sang sat down in the middle of Regulusweg road adjacent to the court. Assistant agriculture minister Kareke Mbiuki spotted all the caps meant for the MPs as MP Johnstone Muthama extended his parliamentary chief whip duties to the court.
The Kangundo MP read the names of the MPs one by one as they stepped in. Once inside the court, they made their way to their respective gallery. I crossed Winnie Mwai looking for the galleries and guided her. I also crossed Ocampo in one of the corridors munching a sandwich.
Inside the gallery two, I took a position next to Jeff Koinange and between Nation’s Eric Shimoli, this time in the first row. This meant I would be able to see all in the court without having to struggle.
When the blinds were drawn and both sides - public and court - became visible, I saw Uhuru grinning and acknowledging gestures from members of the public in the gallery. He actually acknowledged Jeff’s presence by smiling reassuringly at him.
According to ICC Rules of Decorum, Rule 6, visitors are not permitted to point or gesture at anyone seated in the court room. All the three were sandwiched between their team of lawyers. Lawyer Evans Monari took along with him the latest technological gadget- an iPad - into the courtroom so that while the rest clicked their mouse, he was simply scrolling with his index finger.
In this session, Maj Gen Ali sunk home the reality of the appearance. Only three years ago during the Waki hearings he repeated severally to the disbelief of everyone that he had no regrets whatsoever in the way he had handled the post-election violence.
If anything, Ali had insisted at Waki’s hearing that he would do exactly what he did in 2008 if he was offered a repeat of the circumstances. But now he was hauled in a “foreign” court miles away from home with the no nonsense judge asking him to speak louder.
As for Muthaura, the reading of his charges was perhaps the saddest. The career civil servant swallowed a gulp of saliva, drew himself back and leaning on his chair tapped the table as the charges of murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts were read out.
The court clerk reading the charges did not help matters by glancing over at the suspects as he read the charges. It was almost unimaginable to have the head of the Civil Service in court let alone to answer to issues of rape and murder in Kenya.
The session went on and by 3:25pm, it was over and we made our way out. The previous day’s happenings repeated themselves with Uhuru being received jubilantly by the MPs and other Kenyans. Very little or no attention was given to Muthaura and Ali who immediately vanished from the place.
Mbiuki stole the thunder off Uhuru's wife when after emerging from the court's exit gate, he went for him first pumping a powerful congratulatory handshake before giving Uhuru's wife her chance to hug her beloved.
Like Ruto before him, Kenyatta led all MPs in a single file down the lanes leading to Movenpick Hotel for a celebratory lunch. Muthama and MP Jamleck Kamau pumped similarly powerful handshakes and tapped him in the back for informing the court that President Kibaki is the “duly elected President” of Kenya. Miguna and Salim Lone, looking lonely, trailed them on their way to a nearby train station.
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