ICC: Political statements won't stop us ICC: Political statements won't stop us

By Robert Nyasato

Political statements made about crimes against humanity cases facing four Kenyans at the International Criminal Court(ICC) will not inform the judicial progress, a meeting heard.

ICC Field Coordinator for Kenya, Maria Mabinty Kamara said the statements which are made everyday by politicians and the international community will only affect public opinion but not proceedings at The Hague based court.

Responding to questions raised during an outreach session on the ICC cases at Itierio  Social Hall, Kisii County yesterday Kamara said foreign countries including America had a right to make comments about the process but such statements are not judicial in any way.

Participants mostly opinion leaders had questioned why America was so concerned with the ICC cases yet it was not signatory to the Rome Statute that established the court.

“The ICC is independent and will execute its mandate according to the law,” Kamara told the meeting held in the area on grounds it was one of the most affected in the 2007/08 post election violence(PEV).

Participants used the forum to demand for arrest of Sudanese President Al Bashir Mohamed for the ICC to demonstrate seriousness so that to Kenyans will have confidence that accused persons in the presidential race will not be left off the hook if they ascended to power but get convicted.

Presidential aspirants, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto are in the race to State House but are facing crimes against humanity at The Hague together with former Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura and journalist Joshua arap Sang.

The coordinator said the on-going outreach programme targeting the most affected communities in the PEV and also regions where the accused persons hail from was meant to demystify the ICC process and clarify misrepresentation of facts due to limited information.

“I am urging Kenyans to keep on open mind and speak about the ICC progress from an informed point not view as opposed to weak positions,” she said.

The forum that brought together representatives of faith based organisations, youth groups, women, teachers and PEV victims heard that investigations on the crimes against humanity were still on in the country.

“It is upto the prosecutor to either bring new evidence or prefer more charges based on their findings,” she said when asked if people were allowed to present further evidence to the ICC on the Kenyan cases.

Yes Youth Can, Kisii County President Dennis Orioki called for more outreach programmes targeting young Kenyans saying they were at risk of being misused again as it happened in the last General Election.

Centre for Community Dialogue(CODE) Director Geoffrey Mogire hailed the initiative saying people needed to be brought on board to understand what was happening at The Hague.

Kamara asked PEV victims to engage political leaders and the civil society to push for compensation saying at The Hague that was being channelled by lawyers representing them.

The session agreed to wisely use their voting right to  in the coming polls so that leaders with questionable integrity do not ascend to power.