The International Criminal Court wants to question Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria over his recent claims that he was part of a team that procured witnesses "resulting in the ICC prosecutions".

In one of two email exchanges that the Nation has seen, a representative of the court said he wanted to discuss recent articles suggesting that Mr Kuria and former Justice minister Martha Karua were involved in procuring witnesses in the post-election violence cases.

However, the MP sought to know whether the court wanted to meet him "as a person with information" or as a suspect. It was not clear whether his question was answered.

The MP offered to meet representatives from the court in Nairobi next Friday, at Parliament Buildings.

An investigator from ICC had offered to meet Mr Kuria over claims that he and Ms Karua had recruited witnesses in the Kenya cases in The Hague.

KURIA'S ALLEGATIONS
Six Kenyans, including Mr Uhuru Kenyatta---now the President---and Mr William Ruto, now the Deputy President, were charged with crimes against humanity.

Charges against four of the suspects have since been dropped, but those against Mr Ruto and former radio present Joshua arap Sang are still going on.

At a prayer rally in Mt Elgon last month, Mr Kuria claimed that he, Ms Karua, ODM leader Raila Odinga and the party’s former Secretary-General, Prof Peter Anyang-Nyong’o, had procured witnesses in the ICC cases.

On Thursday, Mr Kuria confirmed that he had been contacted by ICC investigators.

"Let them come. What I will tell them is what I am telling you and what I will keep telling anyone who cares to know the truth about what happened," he told a press conference during which he was accompanied by Mr Stephen Tarus, a former ambassador.

Mr Tarus accused the ICC of "recycling" witnesses initially presented to the Kriegler Commission, which investigated the conduct of the 2007 presidential election, whose results ODM contested after the PNU candidate, President Mwai Kibaki, was declared the winner.

Mr Tarus, on Thursday said that when ODM challenged the election results, he was drafted to find witnesses to prove that ODM had lost.

"When the Kriegler Commission came to Eldoret, we in the Party of National Unity saw it fit to give our part of the story, that we did not steal the elections. We were only interested in demonstrating that PNU had won," he said.

DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE WINNER

According to him, the witnesses who appeared before the Kriegler Commission were also approached to testify in the ICC cases.

In its findings, the Kriegler Commission concluded that it was difficult to determine who between Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga had won.

The mediation that followed the post-election violence led to the formation of the Grand Coalition government with Mr Kibaki as President and Mr Odinga as the Prime Minister.

On Thursday, Mr Kuria and Mr Tarus accused the ICC of relying on the testimonies they gave to the Kriegler Commission.

"This was a political dispute. We prepared witnesses to show that PNU won fair and square. But somebody comes and recycles that evidence for a criminal case," Mr Kuria said.

Mr Tarus said he had been falsely accused of fixing Mr Ruto by coaching witnesses.

"If the ICC wanted to investigate and prosecute the people who were involved in the violence, they should have done their job and not rely on the Kriegler and Waki commissions," he said.

In a letter dated September 29, the ICC investigator said he wanted to meet Mr Kuria to "ascertain the accuracy of the statements" attributed to the MP in the media.