Wednesday, March 16, 2011

PNU writes to UN discrediting ODM letter on deferrals

By Martin MutuaThe world got to see more of the divisions in Government after the Party of National Unity released a letter accusing its coalition partner of malice for opposing its bid to defer the two ICC cases at The Hague.
The strongly worded letter is copied to foreign embassies, the President of the States Party to the Rome Statute, the European Union and all UN agencies in Nairobi. In it PNU claims the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has been "continuously politicising the ICC process".
It is a response to another letter sent by ODM to the United Nations in which party Secretary General Anyang Nyong’o lists 16 reasons why the UN should reject the deferral bid.
PNU Secretary General Kiraitu Murungi claimed in his letter yesterday that ODM’s petition was an attempt to politically manipulate the ICC process and was "cheeky, mischievous and obnoxious."
Blatant irresponsibility
He added: "It is a clear demonstration of the blatant irresponsibility of ODM and its naked pursuit of power without any patriotic political commitment to the dignity and sovereignty of the nation," added Mr Murungi, who is also the Energy Minister.
Murungi, who also lists 16 reasons to rebut ODM’s claims, said it was a waste of time to petition the UN Security Council (UNSC) because ODM, like PNU, has no legal standing to do so, alleging the world body only deals with governments and not political parties or lobby groups.
"We are therefore confident that under no circumstances will the ODM manipulative petition see the light of day in the UNSC," he said.
"That said, however, we wish to distance ourselves and our members from the adversarial position taken by the said ODM clique and fully endorse the request for deferral made by the Government on behalf of its people," he added.
Murungi said PNU believes the key perpetrators and masterminds of post-election violence were deliberately omitted from the list provided by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, and that a local judicial mechanism is the best option to deal with the matter.
He went on to echo earlier claims by the party that prosecuting the Ocampo Six at The Hague would lead to chaos locally. Article 19 of the Rome Statute allows the UN to defer ICC cases only when they pose a threat to international peace and security.
In its letter to the UN, ODM said the ICC process does not pose any threat to local or international peace. "To the contrary, failure to bring to justice the perpetrators of post-election violence poses grave danger to Kenya’s internal peace and security".
On Monday, Moreno-Ocampo told journalists via videoconference that attempts by the Government to defer the cases while legal are political, and have no effect on his work.
Ominous signal
"Only an irresponsible party would not see this ominous signal that the ICC process may very well undermine justice and long-term collective peace of the nation".
Murungi said it was imperative that the country builds capacity and promotes local political processes that command the respect of Kenya’s population that meet international standards of criminal justice.
"In the context of Kenya’s reform agenda the petition by ODM to the UNSC is a clear testimony to the malicious efforts by the said ODM faction to irresponsibly use every occasion to politicise and manipulate the ICC process to make political mileage," he added.
Murungi claimed the 16 reasons advanced by ODM were "extremely short on truth, logic and rationality and tall on political drama, sensationalism and calculations".
The PNU boss said although it is true that since 1992 each General Election has been characterised by violence, "It is precisely for this reason that the period between now and the last quarter of 2012 must be approached with great caution, prudence and wisdom."
Murungi said following the enactment of a new constitution Kenya was able and willing to investigate and prosecute all crimes including crimes stipulated in the Rome statute.
ODM’s letter came after Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Mr Macharia Kamau wrote a letter to the UN Security Council claiming the ICC process in Kenya has been manipulated and is being used to eliminate strong presidential candidates — and equated the ICC process in Kenya to a "power grab".

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