The Supreme Court of Kenya has spoken. I do not understand how they came to their decisions. However we now must move forward. I hereby congratulate President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta on his election as the fourth President of the Republic of Kenya. I also congratulate Deputy President-elect William Ruto who becomes Kenya’s first ever Deputy President.
I wish them all the best as they form a new government.
As one of the 5.3 Million Kenyans who did not vote for them, and as part of the political machinery mandated with ensuring that Cord won, it has taken me a while to recover from the shock of March 9. I then held on to hope that March 30 could change something; it did not. I have now accepted that Kenyans voted for someone else other than my candidate. I am a democrat and will respect that decision.
The March 4 general election was directly connected to the ‘un-completeness’ of the 2007 polls, and especially its violent aftermath. As I have shared before, I spent two years after those two months of national shame travelling around the country meeting various communities in inter-ethnic dialogue forums. The results of these forums was a firm conviction that the only way we would ensure that nothing like the 2007 violence ever happened again was to institute a judicial process to investigate and prosecute those found to have been behind the violence.
After watching the difficulties of trying to establish a local process, I became convinced that only the ICC would achieve these ends. Two years ago, a sections of MPs contemplated removing Kenya from being a signatory of the Rome Statute to stop the ICC process. To counter this, I was part of a highly successful nation-wide signature collection effort to rally Kenyans to support the ICC. In less than 6 weeks we had collected 1.4 million signatures and all attempts to stop the ICC were halted.
After this election, I have to accepted that I have been very wrong on this issue.
When the Supreme Court confirmed to the whole world that Kenya held a generally free and fair election, I had to accept that two years after collecting the signatures in support of ICC, 6.1 million Kenyans have stated emphatically that they do not agree with what I assumed was the Kenyan position on ICC. There is no other way to explain how these many people voted for a presidential candidate and his unning mate who have openly been indicted for crimes against humanity by the ICC.
Basically the election results are telling the world we have all learnt from what happened in 2007; we have sorted the issues and made the political adjustments; we now want to leave it behind us, and to be left alone to move forward. Compare this with the fact that that all these Kenyans were willing to accept whatever decisions the Kenyan Supreme Court came up with on the presidential petition. Kenyans have clearly voted against the indictments, and the ICC.
Kenyans have democratically closed ranks around Uhuru and Ruto by making them President and Deputy President. The Supreme Court has confirmed that this was done in a fair contest and a transparent process. The main contender for the presidency has accepted this decision; the Kenyan people have settled down to it, whatever side of the political divide they support; and the international community has acknowledged this decision. Now all of us, not just the 6.1 million who voted for Uhuru and Ruto, or even just the 12.3 million who went to the ballot; but all 40millio of us Kenyans, must move forward and support the new President and Deputy President as leaders of our nation. We have a responsibility to do this as Kenyans.
Now the ICC must take note and adjust accordingly. There will be great difficulty should the ICC now wish to parade them on the world stage as international criminals. Kenyans will not take this kindly, neither will they support it. The international community has also been called out on their bluff on possible sanctions and ‘non-essential contact’ claims. They will not be able to do much on this lest they are accused of using the ICC cases to manipulate Kenya’s foreign policy to their benefit.
Kenyans have voted against the ICC and the court must now be asked to leave Kenya's newly elected President and his deputy alone to fulfill their new mandates in serving the Kenyan nation.
The writer is the head of Change Associates.
I am glad you have written eloquently in support of absolving Ruto and president elect Uhuru Kenyatta off their alleged crimes against humanity. Why don't you advocate the same to IDP's and victims of 2008 violence who are still languishing in Tent Camps. When will they get justice for crimes perpetrated on them, or you think they take it kindly, and crimes against them should just be wished away because we have a new dawn; Kenyans should move on as if nothing happened. Wambugu, without being vague, ICC was the best thing that happened to Kenya, otherwise the circle of violence would still be killing people. Many people who lost lands in the name of tribal killings have not been compensated. When will they get their fair share of justice. What about those who died! Did they die in vain through no fault of their own? If Kenya could not set up a local court to try the perpetrators of the violence, then, ICC had no choice but to help the victims. If Uhuru is genuine, then,let him set up a court to try him and Ruto locally, instead of going to Nertheland.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't the six Supreme Court Justices give the victims of election violence a fair trial the way he did to Uhuru, Ruto and Raila! When it comes to election petitions, the six Judges were happy to dispense the constitution and render the verdict very quickly, but they turn a blind eye to the poor IDP's in camps five years later.