Hypocrisy clouded debate on withdrawal from International Criminal Court

Kenya’s biggest hurdles to cohesion and development are negative ethnicity and corruption.

No amount of laws and courts will solve our problems because this is not a legal problem but a moral one. Morality is about attitude, which can only be changed through education and not enactment or execution of laws.

Laws can deter actions but they cannot change the mind. And since the mind hasn’t changed, it will always figure out how to beat the law.

Last week’s debate on Kenya’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute revealed how divided Kenya is. Each side accused the other of hypocrisy. And they were right because in a sense each side was hypocritical. CORD knew that justice for victims would not necessarily be served by having three people prosecuted, out of the thousands who were involved. The real justice that the victims need is to have their lives put on course and shielded from violence in the future.

Even if we assume that President Uhuru and his deputy bear the greatest responsibility, their prosecution is likely to escalate animosity rather than mitigate it because their cases are not just about law. Their cases also have a political dimension, which can only be addressed politically.

Jubilee is pretending that their support for the ICC a couple of years ago was well-intentioned. On the contrary, they were hell-bent on shielding the alleged perpetrators of violence from possible punishment, with little concern for the victims. Jubilee should not act as if this is an emergency. I am not a friend of ICC because I know it’s a political court in the hands of global powers. I would support withdrawal from ICC, but not before the cases of Kenyans in ICC are heard and determined.

In my view, with or without ICC our problems remain. Africa must source homegrown solutions. Any illusions that our political and economic salvation comes from the West is ill-informed and naïve.

       {LSI Mwenda, Nairobi} 

The passing of a motion by Jubilee MPs to withdraw Kenya from the ICC is an indication that they want to restore impunity in this country. Ever since the three Kenyans were indicted by the ICC, Kenya has enjoyed peace and tranquility that have never been seen before. This peace is because of the fear of ICC by the lords of impunity in the country. Again, were it not for the fear of ICC, the last General Election could have been chaotic. I  would like to call upon Kenyans to reject and condemn efforts by Jubilee MPs to withdraw Kenya from ICC as this is going to bring back dictatorship and impunity.

       {JM, Nairobi}

 

Tribal clashes in Kenya happen all the time yet the Judiciary is unable to act. When the worst kind of this violence happened in 2007/8, everybody was convinced that only the ICC could mete out justice for the majority poor and voiceless. The need for this justice has not gone away merely because Uhuru and Ruto came together and won the elections. The political scene in 2017 might be so different, you would be shocked were you to watch the ‘fast-forward’ clip. We still need the ICC!

       {Kariuki Muiri, Karatina}