The Kenyan suspects are next in line

SATURDAY, 17 MARCH 2012 00:04 BY STAR EDITOR

The verdict reached by the International Criminal Court which finds Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty of war crimes, is something which must be celebrated by all Kenyans who vividly recall the terrible events of January 2008. It may have taken several years for this point to be reached, but now it has come and it proves to us, that the wheels of justice are rolling steady and sure at The Hague.

Men like Lubanga, in their days of power, did not see their fellow citizens as individuals who had rights. Rather, they saw them as pawns in the game of power. And as they fought and killed and went on with their struggles for power against the rival warlords, the last thing on their minds was that they might one day be called on to answer for their deeds before an international tribunal.

There was a time when this kind of thing - events involving the slaughter of innocents and the mass evictions of thousands of people - were completely alien to the average Kenyan. And we could look on events of this kind, and wonder, “Why can't they be more like us Kenyans? Why can't they resolve their political differences by peaceful means?”

But those days of innocence are long past, and we now know that we are really no different. And we also know that there are men among us who are willing to use violence as a means to achieving their political ends – just like Thomas Lubanga. Such men are not just politicians: they are, in a very real sense, warlords.

Hundreds of thousands of people do not flee their homes in fear and panic for no reason: someone somewhere must have planned the reign of terror which led to the mass evictions and the murders in the northern Rift Valley. And large and well-armed gangs do not suddenly descend on sleepy towns like Naivasha out of nowhere: someone must have laid out a detailed plan for that invasion. Through the ICC process, we now have a chance of finding out just exactly who these people were, who brought Kenya to the brink of civil war.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Well, for a nine year old kid to be able to earn $110 in one day compared to $10 for a paper round, the economics were even obvious to a ten year old.” - Kurt Russell, a US actor was born on March 17 1951.