Politicians in a rush to derail Ocampo's mission

By STANDARD TEAM
As the International Criminal Court investigation reaches its penultimate stage in nine days time, MPs drawn largely from the Rift Valley and parts of Central Kenya are desperately doubling their efforts to sabotage the process.
After Attorney General Amos Wako’s claim last week that cases pursued by Ocampo do not qualify as crimes against humanity, MPs plan to table a motion in Parliament this week to force the Government to denounce the ICC, and deny its prosecutor any legal jurisdiction under international law to operate in Kenya.
By Sunday, some 50 MPs had signed up to the plan. The motion is to be presented to Parliament on Wednesday by Chepalungu MP Isaac Rutto.
Short of pulling Kenya out of the ICC, there is little the Government can do to stop the prosecutor, Mr Moreno-Ocampo from seeking indictments on December 15, against the alleged masterminds of the violence that followed a disputed presidential election.
But time is against them. The process of withdrawing from the ICC would last between one and two years, time enough for indictments to be issued by the court, and alleged culprits summoned or arrested.
MPs pushing the motion claim the ICC investigation unfairly targets their communities and leaders, and that Moreno-Ocampo has no credible witnesses.
Kenya subject to Rome statuteBut when it ratified the Rome Statute establishing the ICC, Kenya became subject to the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court, which sets out clear guidelines on denunciation of the Rome Statute, and resolution of disagreements on its interpretation.
And even with Attorney General Amos Wako now on their side, for their motion to have any international weight, the MPs must garner a two-thirds majority in Parliament behind it, which looks like a long shot.
"All differences arising out of the interpretation or application of the present Agreement between two or more States Parties or between the Court and a State Party shall be settled by consultation, negotiation or other agreed mode of settlement," reads Article 32(1) of the agreement.
Furthermore, the ICC is also immune from legal suits.
ICC is immuneArticle 6(1) reads: "The Court, and its property, funds and assets, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from every form of legal process, except insofar as in any particular case the Court has expressly waived its immunity. It is, however, understood that no waiver of immunity shall extend to any measure of execution."
But despite the mood of the country generally being in favour of the ICC process due to a lack of trust in the local judicial system, there has been a continuous and deliberate attempt by this group of MPs to demonise the court and its investigations.
The same MPs shot down a motion two years ago that would have locked the ICC out of the process in favour of a local solution.
Their current change of heart appears rooted in getting one of their "own" into State House.
Dujis MP Aden Duale who is among those fronting for the motion say they want to force President Kibaki to form a special court to deal with cases emanating from the 2007-2008 post-election violence. He appeared to believe this would force Moreno-Ocampo to drop the cases he is pursuing.
"The motion will have several aims; to form a special court within the judiciary, and to review Kenya’s membership of the ICC," he said.
Ocampo will on Wednesday next week seek indictments against six people he says have the highest level of responsibility for the violence.
But MPs opposing the ICC process fear he may indict leaders they have identified as their communities’ best cards for the 2012 presidential race, throwing their best-laid plans into disarray.
Reliable sources have also told The Standard that Eldoret North MP William Ruto plans to dispatch lawyers to The Hague to file an application to block Ocampo, though his lawyer Mr Katwa Kigen declined to confirm or deny this.
Ruto was adversely mentioned in a report that was prepared by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights whose commissioner, Hassan Omar, he accuses of coaching witnesses.
The report by the commission was part of documents given to the ICC by Justice Philip Waki commission that Ruto accuses of wrongly saying in its final report that he testified at its hearings.
Also today, former Central Province PPO Philip Ndegwa is expected to move to the High Court in Nairobi to ask for an injunction against the ICC.
Ndegwa is among ten security chiefs who served during the 2007-2008 post-election violence and was served with summons to give evidence to the ICC investigators, but declined to do so on grounds that he is no longer in government.
Ndwiga’s move comes after nine serving security chiefs filed a case at the ICC at The Hague to get assurance from the judges that they would not be pursued for trial if they give any evidence to Ocampo.
Following Ocampo’s revelation last week that he would file his case within two weeks, many leaders have made statements in an apparent sign that the ICC process was turning up the heat in Kenyan politics.
PM Raila Odinga told Ocampo and chief mediator Koffi Annan that the chaos was ignited by the disputed presidential election.
At the weekend, Lands Minister James Orengo he suspected he was in Ocampo’s crosshairs.
"My name is there in ICC, but I’m not scared even though I was accused of calling for mass action at the height of post-election violence," said the minister.
ICC process was politicalOn Snday, Duale alleged the ICC process was political.
"We want justice for the people who suffered the post election violence, but we do not want the ICC process, which we initially thought would be fair to interfere with the cohesion we have achieved so far," he said.
The MPs pushing the motion claimed on Sunday President Kibaki did not sign agreements the ICC reached with the Government recently.
"Ocampo is conducting his business like a politician. Why talk endlessly yet prosecutors only act in court? We are convinced he is out to mess our country," said Chepalungu MP Isaac Rutto, a close confidante of Eldoret North MP William Ruto.
Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo said any hope the MPs have that Parliament can stop Ocampo is just "wishful thinking".
Lawyers Paul Muite and James Mwamu said that since the ICC judges already have the Kenyan file, the motion has no chance of changing anything.
"Already the three judges have given Ocampo a go ahead to investigate the Kenyan case. The case will continue to its logical conclusion regardless of the Kenyan politics," said Muite.
Mwamu said Kenya had failed in the past to try the PEV suspects and that the country cannot be trusted by anybody to handle the same cases.
"Kenya handed itself to the ICC and there is no room to withdraw from the ICC Act midway. It is unfortunate and those scheming better stop embarrassing themselves," warned Mwamu.
Reporting by Jibril Adan, Beauttah Omanga and Peter Orengo