Stop Politicizing the ICC Process

It saddening to note that after shooting down a Bill intended to establish a local tribunal to deal with the masterminds of the 2007/2008 post-election violence, a section of politicians are now busy traversing the country, badmouthing the International Criminal Court process which they preferred in the first place. Then, the assumption by the suspects was that the ICC process would take ages. But now that the ICC chief prosecutor Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo has moved with speed to ensure justice for the victims, some of whom are still living in dilapidated IDP camps, the same politicians are crying wolf.

Notably, the boisterous and impudent Eldoret North MP William Ruto and his hatchet men have embarked on a scapegoating mission, blaming their woes on either Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights or the Waki Commission. Even after Mr Moreno-Ocampo has made it clear that his prosecution will be based on evidence gathered by his investigators and not by the human rights body or the Waki Commission, Ruto and his coterie of praise singers, including none other than Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, are busy discrediting the ICC and blaming the woes of the legislator, currently facing fraud charges, on his perceived enemies. At a recent church function in Ruto’s Nandi backyard, Kalonzo claimed that some senior politicians would like to see Ruto go to The Hague so that his chances of running for presidency in 2012 are scuttled. It is preposterous for Kalonzo, a lawyer, to pretend not to know how the ICC process works. As a senior member of the coalition government, he should be the last person to deny justice to the victims of the post-election violence. But perhaps we should not blame him because he is still suffering from the KANU hangover. Having cut his teeth in a regime that condoned impunity, his utterances did not come as a surprise to keen observers.

What Kalonzo does not know is that some Kenyans have never forgiven him for the political role he played in igniting the violence. Never content to play second fiddle, he decamped from Raila’s party, thereby dividing the Orange vote. Had he stuck with Raila, the Orange Party would have won with a wider margin and no one would have dared to doctor the results. Then as his erstwhile friend Raila disputed the results, Kalonzo displayed a high degree of greed by rushing to form a coalition with President Kibaki when the country was still burning. And now he talks of forming an alliance with Ruto in 2012. Will he accept to play second fiddle this time round? And what if Ruto is finally indicted?

One other person who should pack his bags and go is Attorney-General Amos Wako. He has poured cold water on Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s investigations, arguing that the prosecutor will find it difficult to prove that crimes against humanity were actually committed. Unless Wako was not in the country at the time Kenyans were incited to butcher each other, such utterances should not have come from an otherwise respected international human rights lawyer. No wonder the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions Prof Philip Alston referred to him as “the phenomenon of the embodiment of impunity”.

To the security chiefs who have refused to record their statements with ICC investigators, there is something you are hiding. If you know you are innocent, what do you have to fear? Please be warned that whether you record your statements or not, Mr Moreno-Ocampo has already gathered enough evidence and no amount of posturing and intimidation of witnesses will stop him. The victims are crying for justice