Opinion:Is the ICC process about Kenyan Politicians or 2007/8 PEV Victims?
By John Harrington Ndeta, Ajabu Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, posted December 21, 2010
The release of six names of Kenyans suspects to bear the greatest responsibility in the 2007/8 Post Election Violence by ICC Prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo has elicited more heat than light this past week. Kenyan legislators are reconvened on Monday to see if Kenya can pull out of the Rome Statute as one of the signatory States, institute a local tribunal to allegedly, dispense justice to victims of the violence and third and last; speed up the implementation of the new Constitution with new structures of justice.
The pull out plan did not work.
But as Ocampo pursues the six in regard to crimes committed against humanity in after the 2007 General elections, questions abound as to whether the six are being targeted or justice is being sought for the victims. Is it that the Kenyans who support the ICC Process don’t like the named individuals? Should we allow impunity to prevail because “our man” has been named or should we as Kenyans allow justice to take its cause?
Politicians from across the political divide have made the most disappointing remarks as if the over 1300 lives lost in the 2007/8 does not matter at all. Members of Parliament, who fought off three attempts to initiate a local process, are now insisting that a local process is the only way forward. In the last one year, politicians have moved from the conviction that the ICC is the only structure that can provide justice, to the belief that the ICC is a kangaroo court.
Such a move is driven by the fact that members from their class have been included amongst the suspects.
This leads most observers to the realization that politicians do not accept that they played a role in what happened. In addition, listening and watching them in Parliament indicates that most of these leaders have absolutely no connection with the ordinary Kenyan because if they did, the same intensity would have been seen in the past during parliamentary debate on justice for the 1,300 killed, or for the thousands of women raped, or for the hundreds of thousands forcefully displaced from their homes, some who still live in tents.
Another immediate reaction from within the current political leadership has been the re-emergence of tribalism.
The Kikuyu leadership is defending Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, the Meru leadership is defending Head of Public Service Ambassadour Francis Muthaura, the Somali leadership is defending former Police boss Maj Gen Ali, the Kalenjin leadership is defending the other three including Industrialization Minister Henry Kosgey, Former Higher Education Minister Wiliam Ruto and Kass FM Journalist, Joshua Arap Sang’.
Interestingly, there is no politician who has arisen to defend the victims of the Post Election Violence. Furthermore, no politician remembers that the ICC is about justice for victims not the political ambitions of suspects. This is a clear indication that majority within the current political leadership, has not learnt anything from what happened in 2007/8. This also means that they will not be able to lead Kenya into nationhood, at least not at this moment.
On a positive note, just like the case during the search for a new constitution, Kenyans have once again proven that they walk ahead of their leaders. They have received all this drama with peace and calmness, and remained consistent in their support of the ICC as a means of learning the truth about the 2007/2008 Post Election Violence. This sobriety is derived from awareness that Kenya, as a Nation-State, will always be more important than any single select group of individuals or communities within it.
My reading of all this is that anew opportunity beckons for a new leadership to emerge. This could be the moment where leaders who understand what Kenyans want, step out. This could be the moment for Kenyans to invite a leadership that will walk with them as they await the evidence of Ocampo, and the defense from the six mentioned suspects.
This could be the moment where Kenya gets a leadership that will hold the country together, as the current political establishment strives to take Kenya back into tribal cocoons. This might be the moment for a leadership that understands that in every situation ‘Kenya Comes First’. This might be the opportunity for a new Kenyan leadership to stand up to be counted ahead of the 2012 elections. When Brutus was taken to task about his role in the assassination of his friend and leader Julius Caesar he said ‘It was not that I loved Caesar less, it was that I loved Rome more’.
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