Deferral bid has not failed, Kalonzo insists

Monday, 21 March 2011 00:01 BY STAR TEAM

STANDPOINT: Kalonzo with Kitui Catholic Bishop Antony Muheria and Kitui South MP Issac Muoki.

THE government remained defiant over the weekend that it has not lost the deferral bid as a cabinet minister offered to escort a colleague to Hague to honour summonses next month.
Refuting that Saturday’s informal meeting by the UN Security Council members had made a decision on Kenya, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said no formal deliberations have taken place on the matter and no verdict is out yet.He was speaking at Mwingi town’s St. Josephs Seminary School.
He spoke as Nairobi Metropolitan minister Njeru Githae offered to escort his colleague and deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta to Hague on April 8 in a show of solidarity.
Githae was part of Kalonzo’s shuttle diplomacy team.“No such a verdict has been delivered so far. And so I would want to ask our brothers and sisters in the media to be patriotic enough to present the true picture as far as this deferment issue is concerned. The impression created that we are out to protect six is also wrong,” Kalonzo said.
In any case, Kalonzo argued, Kenya is pursuing a two-pronged approach — one through the Security Council route and the other challenging the admissibility of the case at ICC. The latter is yet to take off.
He maintained that only a formal UN Security Council has the powers to reject the Kenyan request for the 12-month deferral of the two cases against the six suspects accused of bearing the biggest responsibility in the 2008 post election violence.“The government is very keen at slaying the ghost of impunity …..it must be killed or sacrificed that Kenya can reclaim her rightful place as a respected nation,” said the VP.
Kalonzo spoke as German Envoy Margit Hellwig cautioned that the ICC trials of the post-election violence suspects should not be used to divide Kenyans along tribal lines ahead of the 2012 polls.Margit blamed politicians in Kenya of misinforming the public about the ICC process with the intention of causing tribal animosity.
The envoy who visited Eldoret to review ongoing peace and reconciliation process said Kenyan leaders had a chance to deal with the poll violence through a local judicial process but they squandered it.“Kenyans need to understand the ICC process clearly. It’s a usual process like any other court system and it should not withhold other important matters which the country needs to address,” said the envoy.