INQUIRY TOLD OF AKASHA'S ZAMBIA LINKS

Nairobi - Murdered drug dealer Ibrahim Akasha was closely linked with
former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, a tribunal heard. Mr Akasha's
former househelp and driver, Mr Festus M'Buri, said the then President was
the only person associated with Mr Akasha in Zambia.

The alleged relationship dated back to early 1990's when Mr Akasha carried
out transport business from Tanzania to Zambia. The business was later
linked to drug trafficking.

Mr M'Buri told the tribunal inquiring into the conduct of suspended Appeal
Court judge Philip Waki that, Mr Akasha occasionally visited President
Kaunda at State House in Zambia.

The witness, who was testifying for the third day, however, did not link
the former President to the drug business.

Mr Justice Waki is alleged to have had close relationship with Mr Akasha,
who was shot dead in Amsterdam in 2000. The claims were made by businessman
Khurshid Butt, the sole accuser of the judge.

The judge is being investigated for the way he handled Mr Butt's cases when
he (Waki) served was High Court judge in Mombasa and Nairobi.

Defence lawyers Mutula Kilonzo and George Oraro have spent two days
cross-examining the witness.

Yesterday, Mr M'Buri was forced to reveal what he claimed were dirty jobs
he did for his boss. He narrated how Mr Akasha often called him into his
bedroom and sent him to pick up a mistress and take her to him at
undisclosed destinations without the knowledge of his three wives.

"If I knew I was to say all these about Akasha, I would never have come to
testify," he regretted.

Mr M'Buri, who said he had nothing against Mr Justice Waki, told the
tribunal that after Akasha's drug cases were highly publicised in the
Kenyan press, government officials and other friends stopped visiting his
house.

Earlier, Mr M'Buri denied claims by Mr Kilonzo that he had been
accommodated by his masters at Panafric Hotel, Nairobi, as an inducement to
have him testify. Mr Kilonzo claimed the witness had also allegedly,
bragged to a friend last week, that he had been paid handsomely to testify.

Meanwhile, the International Commission of Jurists has been allowed to send
two Commonwealth judges to sit at the tribunal as observers.