‘’…… This is a major
victory for the Kenyan team’’, Foreign Affairs cabinet secretary Amina
Mohamed announced on phone after Mr.Kenyatta
and his Deputy William Ruto got a reprieve from the Assembly of State
Parties (ASP) Affirmative nod that they will put an insertion to rule number
134 of the rules of procedure and
evidence. This will see the president and his deputy skip some of their court
sessions provided they are represented by say their lawyers or video link. US
ambassador to the UN Ms. Samantha Power has also expressed her support towards
the decision. According to Amina Mohamed, this is indeed a major victory.
Now with ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s witnesses
suddenly not being ready when they are needed in court, many questions are
bound to rise as to the fate of the cases which six years down the line,
Kenyans are still waiting for justice. The victory as Amina Mohamed cherishes
might not be for everyone and that’s for a fact. The place of post poll
violence victims therefore will remain uncertain should Bensouda’s case fail to
prevail. This raises the big question: is Kenya ready to forget it’s painful
past if the cases fail at The Hague?
It strikes as hard as that I know, the confusion that
could engulf a citizens so peaceful they
accepted and moved on. A section of Jubilee legislators did not surprise many
when recently they practically instructed the president and his deputy not to
step at The Hague whatsoever. Supposedly motivated by the crowd psychology and
the urge to ‘dare the west’ the senators and members of parliament did dare the
courts: right in the presence of the vice president himself. That shouldn’t be
news any chance, both the government and the opposition have always-though not
clearly at some point-indicated their stand on the cases save for the opposition
CORD which recently had to hold a crisis meeting to deliberate on the party
stand.
As you scroll through your channels everyday,
enjoying an otherwise witty cast in parliament, ask yourself if you are ready
to accept and move on should Bensouda fail to rise to the occasion and
experience a collapse of the cases. You’ll probably realize that you’ve never
thought beyond the ICC or rather less coarse manner, you’ve never imagined that
the president and his deputy could somehow have their way in the cases. Whose
victory really are we waiting for at the end of this course? Is it time to turn
back and retrace our steps?
Contact the writer at abu.fabian@gmail.com
