By PETER NJENGA
Posted Tuesday, April 3 2012 at 19:16
Posted Tuesday, April 3 2012 at 19:16
Before I place the Limuru II resolutions in context, more so for record’s sake, I first want to clarify two crucial issues.
One, what Gema stands for and two, why the cultural Gema, like the Luo Council of Elders or the Kalenjin Council of Elders seeks to foster social harmony through summoning shared cultural virtues, sensibilities, attitudes and worldviews.
Gema, like any other genuine cultural association, is driven by the belief that culture is the centrepiece of a people’s identity and sense of dignity.
I believe that communities which work their way towards shedding retrogressive tendencies are likely to overcome phobias that drive human beings to act irresponsibly due to suspicion.
In that respect, Gema’s most critical quest is to lay the basis for effective management of unity in diversity, starting with the communities that dominate the central Kenya region.
That said, the resolutions of Gema Cultural Association at the Limuru II conference on March 23 were considerably misrepresented and, indeed, misunderstood by sections of the media, and in some political quarters.
All what the meeting said is that now that the date of the next General Election is as good as fixed for March 4, next year, the ICC will be requested to organise its trial dates to accommodate the elections calendar so that campaigns/elections and the trial do not run concurrently.
The context in which the Limuru II meeting addressed itself to the proceedings of the ICC is three-fold.
Over the past four years, Kenya has demonstrated the fastest and most comprehensive turnaround in a post-conflict situation of any country in living memory.
Gema is acutely aware of the fact that men and women of goodwill everywhere want to see an exemplary deterrent outcome in the cases.
But a deterrence based on a selective application of justice is a miscarriage of justice.
The fact is not lost on the people of Mt Kenya – and millions of other Kenyans and Africans – that the United States, for instance, is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court.
However, it constantly piles pressure on member-states of the Statute and non-members alike to endorse a piece of American legislation known as Article 98.
This Article enjoins all who endorse it never to surrender an American citizen to the ICC’s jurisdiction – not even an American soldier with the blood of unarmed non-combatants still dripping from his hands.
And yet certain American individuals, entities, envoys and government officials are all for Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and three other prominent Kenyans, being permanently undone for all time by the ICC in a prosecution that is so flawed it has injustice written all over it.
At the grassroots level, there is growing indignation that Uhuru should be considered to be fit fodder for a jurisdiction that America and its key allies – Britain, Israel, France and Germany – regard as unfit to try even its lowest ranking trained killers.
This swelling feeling of grievance is a dangerous breeding ground for all sorts of discontent in Kenya’s most populous regions. We in Gema know this, and we recognise it for the danger it is.
It is a feeling that is also deep-seated and abroad among the Rift Valley communities on behalf of Eldoret North MP William Ruto.
Thirdly, it was the ICC itself which said Uhuru, Ruto, Mr Francis Muthaura and broadcaster Joshua Sang are free to pursue their interests, including running for elective office and the presidency.
By urging the ICC to be sensitive about the dynamics of the presidential contest, Gema was simply pointing out that the court must under no circumstances appear to be taking back what it gave.
Kenya is not a failed state. There is no civil war going on, and we are surely one of the world’s leaders when it comes to the reform agenda and appetite for good governance.
All that Gema was saying on behalf of Uhuru is that the matters at The Hague should be handled with the greatest care, circumspection, sensitivity, empathy, and sense of justice, both inside Kenya and beyond.
Bishop (Rtd.) Peter Njenga is co-chair, Gema Cultural Association
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