The Nation Newspaper

Tag: William Ruto

  • Africa loses $18b annually due to conflict

    Africa loses $18b annually due to conflict

    Kenyan President William Ruto, the champion of the African Union (AU) institutional reforms, yesterday said conflicts are hindering Africa’s potential, resulting in estimated losses of 18 billion dollars annually.

    Ruto said Africa currently hosts 35 million internally displaced persons, 8.9 million refugees, 1.1 million asylum seekers, and 1 million stateless persons.

    “Between April and June 2024 alone, a total of 1,000 terrorism incidents were recorded across Africa, resulting in 4,818 deaths,” he said during the high-level Extended Bureau Retreat on AU Institutional Reforms held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

    Read Also: 50% tariff hike: A necessary step or a burden for Nigerians?

    The day-long event brought together presidents from Guinea-Bissau, Ethiopia, Ghana, and the Comoros, as well as Moussa Faki, chairperson of the AU Commission, to accelerate reforms of the 55-member continental organisation.

    Ruto noted that the AU security architecture in its current configuration is incapable of addressing the continent’s complex dynamics and challenges, and there is an urgent need for immediate revitalisation of the peace and security architecture.

    He also said the pan-African bloc’s presence in regional hotspots remains weak, fragmented, and under-resourced.

  • Ruto agrees ‘for conversation’ with Kenyan protesters over tax hikes

    Ruto agrees ‘for conversation’ with Kenyan protesters over tax hikes

    Kenya’s President William Ruto has said he was ready for “a conversation” with thousands of “peaceful” young protesters who held nationwide demonstrations this week to oppose proposed tax increases.

    The protesters, who began their demonstrations on Tuesday, said the administration of President William Ruto has gone back on its pledge to reduce taxes and lower the cost of living.

    Organised on social media and led largely by young Kenyans who livestreamed the demonstrations, the protests caught Ruto’s government off-guard, as discontent mounts over his economic policies.

    Read Also: 10 things to know about Fela Durutoye, Tinubu’s new SSA

    “I am very proud of our young people… they have stepped forward peaceful[ly] and I want to tell them we are going to engage them,” Ruto said in his first public comments on the protests yesterday.”

    “We are going to have a conversation so that together we can build a greater nation,” he added during a church service in the Rift Valley town of Nyahururu.

    In response, however, one protest leader said Ruto had to “respond publically”.

    “If he truly wants dialogue, he must respond publically to our demand letter,” said Hanifa Adan. Protesters have called for a national strike on June 25.”

  • Kenya’s deputy president okays demands made by opposition

    Kenya’s deputy president okays demands made by opposition

    Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto said on Tuesday there would be no problem if the election board agrees to meet demands made by the opposition ahead of a repeat presidential vote on Oct. 26.

    The Supreme Court annulled an Aug. 8 vote at the start of September after opposition leader Raila Odinga challenged the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

    Odinga has withdrawn from the repeat poll, saying the election board had failed to meet a list of conditions his coalition said would guarantee fairness.

    He has called for daily protests to force the reforms.

    “If they (the election board) chose to have a discussion with our competitors with a view to firing this member of staff or firing that member of that staff or changing a supplier … so long as the elections are there, we will participate,” Ruto told reporters.

    Under the constitution, the repeat election must be held within 60 days of the Sept. 1 invalidation.

    Read:Kenya’s example

    The election board says it will to go ahead with the vote but Odinga’s withdrawal has caused concerns of a political crisis.

    Ruto accused Odinga of trying to spark chaos through the protests in order to get a negotiated settlement, which Kenyatta’s side was not prepared to accept.

    “It is a manufactured situation to achieve a political end and that is what we must resist,” he said.

    Odinga was looking for a way out of the election after realising he was not likely to win, Ruto said.

    “They wanted a repeat election, they have a repeat election. They don’t want to participate. What do they want?” he said.

    Read Also:Kenya’s presidential rerun holds October 26

     

  • Gunmen attack Kenyan deputy president’s residence

    Gunmen attack Kenyan deputy president’s residence

    Unidentified gunmen attacked Kenyan Deputy President, William Ruto’s residence in the western town of Eldoret on Saturday when Ruto and his family members were absent.

    A police officer guarding the residence was wounded, KTN News reported.

    Reports said gunshots could still be heard from the scene.

    Police and officials from Ruto’s office were not available for immediate comment on the incident.

     

    Reuters

  • ‘My deputy has been vindicated,’ says President Kenyatta

    ‘My deputy has been vindicated,’ says President Kenyatta

    Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday said the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague had vindicated his deputy William Ruto after terminating a criminal case against him and his co-accused Joshua arap Sang.

    “I am delighted that the Deputy President and Mr. Joshua Sang’s innocence has been vindicated by a decision of no-case-to answer at the ICC. This moment is long overdue but no less joyful. I join my brothers in celebrating their moment of justice,” said Kenyatta.

    In a statement sent from France, where he is on a three day state tour, President Kenyatta said that the victory in this case remained “partial and the quest for justice incomplete, because the International Criminal court elected to blindly pursue ill-conceived, defective agenda at the expense of accountability for PEV”.

    “As a result, many victims await justice, and perpetrators are yet to be brought to account. We will continue the work of healing the nation, uniting the people, reconciling communities and ensuring that justice for the victims is achieved,” said the President.

    Kenyatta, who was also cleared of committing similar crimes at the same court, said that from the start of the case he believed that it was ill-conceived and did not properly examine the experience of Kenyans in the 2007/2008 post election violence.

    He said that for six years during the trial he and his deputy endured a “painful journey with the ICC,” adding that they had cooperated with the international court while bearing heavy responsibilities of leadership.

    “This decision brings to a close what has been a nightmare for my nation. With the conclusion of this case at the ICC, our country is fully back on focus to enhance our efforts towards nation building, promotion of peace and security. For my Deputy and I, this focuses us fully on the affairs of running the State, a mandate given to us by the people of Kenya,” said Kenyatta.

    Regarding the victims of the post-election violence Kenyatta said: “Each and every Kenyan was touched by the tragedy that befell our nation in 2007-2008”.

    The President added: “Each and every victim of this unfortunate happening matters. Not one of them has been forgotten. Their suffering demanded of us as leadership to seek reconciliation. My deputy and I campaigned and were elected on a platform to unite and reconcile our motherland.

    “When you entrusted the leadership of the country to our administration, you made us responsible for the healing and reconciliation of our people.”

    Kenyatta said many victims who had been dislocated had now been resettled and compensated and that the government continues to respond to “the outcomes of that unfortunate period of our history.”

    He has invited all Kenyans to the Afraha Stadium, Nakuru, on Saturday 16th April 2016, for a thanksgiving service.

    “This will be an opportunity for prayers for healing, reconciliation and unity of Kenya as we push on the path of inclusive prosperity for all,” he said.

    Nakuru was one of the hotspots of the post election violence that claimed the lives of over 1000 Kenyans and displaced over 600,000.

     

  • Kenyan vice president wins ICC witness ruling

    International judges in the case of Kenyan Vice-President, William Ruto, have barred the use of recanted testimony.

    The decision means prior recorded witness statements cannot be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in this case, the BBC reports.

    Key witnesses in the case changed their statements, which prosecutors said was due to intimidation and bribery.

    Mr. Ruto, who is being tried over unrest that followed 2007 elections, denied charges of crimes against humanity.

    About 1,200 people were killed in the violence.

    The latest ruling overturns a previous decision by judges to allow five of the witnesses’ original statements to be included because they were convinced the witnesses had been interfered with.

  • ICC rules against Kenyan deputy president

    ICC rules against Kenyan deputy president

    The International Criminal Court has told Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto he must attend most of his trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

    Prosecutors had appealed against an earlier decision which would have let him spend most of his time in Kenya.

    While he must appear at most of his trial, the court ruled he can be excused on a “case by case” basis.

    Mr. Ruto’s lawyers argued he was needed in Kenya after the attack by Islamist militants on the Westgate centre.

    He denies responsibility for post-election violence in 2007 and 2008. An estimated 1,200 people were killed in the ethnic bloodshed and about 600,000 fled their homes.

    BBC reports that his lawyers argued that justice could be met in his absence.

    At least 67 people were killed when militants believed to be from the Somali al-Shabab group stormed the shopping centre last month.

    In their ruling on Friday, judges were critical of the initial decision to give the deputy president a “blanket excusal” before the trial had even commenced.

    He will be allowed to apply to miss portions of the case but his absence will only be allowed when it is absolutely necessary.

     

  • ICC wants quick resumption of Kenyan leader’s trial

    ICC wants quick resumption of Kenyan leader’s trial

    Judges at the International Criminal Court on Friday rejected a bid by Kenyan deputy president, William Ruto, to have his trial adjourned until mid-October to allow him to deal with the aftermath of the attack on a Nairobi shopping mall.

    The judges said the trial for crimes against humanity must resume on Wednesday, allowing Ruto to attend a memorial service the day before for the 72 people who died in the four-day assault, claimed by Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab.

    “The service is an important event in Kenya’s national healing,” said Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, presiding.

    Reuters reports that hearings have been suspended since Ruto asked last Sunday for an adjournment to allow him to return home at the height of the hostage drama at the Westgate mall.

    At the hearing on Friday, his lawyers said he would need to stay longer to deal with a series of high-level meetings relating to the attack.

    Ruto and his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, face charges of crimes against humanity related to the violence that followed Kenya’s 2007 elections, in which 1,200 people died. Both have voluntarily complied with all the court’s summonses.

    But since they were elected to their posts earlier this year, both men have asked judges for more leeway in attending court hearings, saying their presence is needed in Kenya.

    If one is in court, the other must be at home, they say, meaning they cannot represent the country properly at international summits.

    The court has not yet given a final ruling on whether the two men can be excused from most hearings.

     

  • African leaders to hold summit on Kenya’s ICC cases

    African leaders to hold summit on Kenya’s ICC cases

    African leaders will meet in the Ethiopian capital on October 13 to take a position on whether to join Kenya’s planned pull-out from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the prosecution of its leaders, officials said on Thursday.

    Reuters says so far there seems not to be much support for it.

    However, Heads of State from the 54-member Africa Union may still discuss the possibility of a pullout by the 34 African signatories to the Rome Statute that created the tribunal.

    Last week’s start of the trial of the Kenyan Deputy President, William Ruto, for crimes against humanity, with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s trial due in November, has fuelled a growing backlash against the Hague-based court from some African governments, which sees it as a tool of Western powers.

    “The Kenyans have been criss-crossing Africa in search of support for their cause, even before their parliament voted to withdraw from the ICC,” an AU official said.

    “An extraordinary summit will now take place to discuss the issue. A complete walk-out of signatories to the Rome Statute is certainly a possibility, but other requests maybe made.”

    The summit would be preceded by a meeting of African foreign ministers a day earlier, he said.

    The Kenya’s Spokesman for the Presidency, Mr. Manoah Esipisu, said the country had not canvassed for the summit, but “welcomed the opportunity by African leaders to discuss what is obviously an important matter for the continent.”

    ICC prosecutors had accused Kenyatta and Ruto, alongside radio journalist, Joshua Arap Sang, of fomenting ethnic violence that killed about 1,200 people after a disputed election in December 2007.

    The three suspects denied the charges.

     

     

  • Kenya’s deputy president goes on trial at ICC

    Kenya’s deputy president goes on trial at ICC

    Kenya’s deputy president appeared before the International Criminal Court on Tuesday charged with co-orchestrating a post-election bloodbath five years ago, a case that will test the stability of a country seen as vital to security in East Africa, Reuters reports.

    The trials of William Ruto and that of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, which will start in November, have split public opinion, and witness testimonies of the violence in 2007-08 that killed more than a thousand people could stir tension.

    The cases are also a major test for prosecutors at the decade-old Hague-based ICC, who have had a low success rate and face accusations of focusing on African countries, while avoiding war crimes in other global hotspots.

    Kenyatta, Ruto’s former rival who became a political ally, faces similar charges of crimes against humanity.

    Rival members of Kenyatta’s Kikuyu and Ruto’s Kalenjin tribes, wielding machetes, knives, and bows and arrows, went on the rampage after a disputed 2007 election, butchering more than 1,200 people and driving hundreds of thousands from their homes.

    This year, Kenyatta and Ruto joined forces for another election, which was comparatively peaceful. Their joint Jubilee Alliance ticket was elected in March after a campaign in which the ICC charges against the two men played a central role.

    Western leaders, who see a stable Kenya as central to the fight against militant Islam, have already found their ties with east Africa’s biggest economy complicated by the charges.

    Ruto, who is voluntarily obeying a summons to attend sessions, is expected to enter a plea of “not guilty” on Tuesday in court. He appeared in The Hague wearing a grey suit, accompanied by several supporters.