Uhuru Kenyatta’s attempts to win endorsement from regional leaders to vie for the presidency is a slippery slope if past record is anything to go by.
This is not the first time that a Kenyan leader has tried to convince the international community to provide a soft landing for those facing cases at the International Criminal Court—Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s controversial attempts to persuade the United Nations to have these cases in the Hague referred to Kenya came a cropper, and there is every chance that Uhuru, The National Alliance presidential aspirant, will also fail in his mission to secure international endorsements.
Uhuru is one of the four Kenyans who will be tried at the Hague from April next year for allegedly bearing the greatest responsibility for crimes against humanity.
His co-accused include his potential running mate William Ruto of the United Republic Party (URP), former Head of the Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura and radio broadcaster Joshua Sang.
In the past few weeks, Uhuru has met with three presidents from the East African region—Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza and Salva Kiir Maryadit of South Sudan—and although these visits have been qualified as courtesy calls to update these leaders on Kenya’s preparedness to hold peaceful elections, Uhuru’s spin doctors have tried to pass them off as missions to affirm their candidate’s suitability to stand for election and hold office, even in the wake of the ICC charges he faces for allegedly committing the most heinous crimes of murder, rape and pillaging.
Ominously, the one-sided press statements issued by members of Uhuru’s communications team have only served to highlight the studious silence of his hosts—none of them have publicly commented on the substance of their discussions.
Even the bland statements released by Uhuru Kenyatta’s Director of Communications Munyori Buku are not categorical that his benefactor secured the endorsement from these foreign leaders, and one statement Buku attributes to Kikwete clearly stands out: “President Kikwete called for the respect of the decision of the people of Kenya,” emphasising that Kenyans were masters of their own destiny. This, in diplomatic jargon, could mean anything.
Public statements by international players such as British Foreign Secretary William Hague and head of the Panel of Eminent African personalities Kofi Annan questioning the candidacy of both Uhuru and Ruto have rattled these two aspirants.
Ruto stridently protested when Hillary Clinton paid a courtesy call on Chief Justice Willie Mutunga even though the US Secretary of State did not publicly speak about the ICC process.
Uhuru’s riposte to Annan’s statement was equally acerbic but his advise to foreigners to stop meddling with Kenya’s affairs was diluted by his own efforts to get the endorsement of the very same foreigners he has chastised.
However, from their more recent warning that foreigners are trying to have the elections date moved from March 4to August next year, the two ICC suspects appear to be reading from a well choreagraphed script—they want foreigners demonsied so that the ICC process loses legitimacy in the court of public opinion.
And by thumbing their nose at the international community, they are well on the way to pushing for the country to go in the direction of other rogue states such as Iran, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Sudan.
Whether Kenya’s delicate economy can withstand the withholding of financial aid and trade sanctions that pariah states face is unfortunately a matter that is not being robustly debated.
The writer comments on topical issues.
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