Anti-ICC forgeries expose malicious scheme

Something horrible is taking place in Kenya’s legislature. An attempt by a group of MPs to table forged documents in Parliament to tarnish the credibility of the International Criminal Court has exposed a sinister scheme to promote impunity even when the people of Kenya are determined to wipe it out. Done by a semi-illiterate agent of distortion, the forgeries were an attempt to hoodwink the entire nation into believing that the trials at the ICC in The Hague are part of a big plot by Western “imperialists” to keep William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta behind bars as Raila Odinga runs for the presidency of Kenya almost unopposed.

Unfortunately the semi-illiterate schemer could neither write good English nor spell some simple words in the language. Hence the cat was let out of the bag through the theatre of the absurd parliament was reduced to when the forgeries were table in the House. Instead of the National Assembly buying the distorted theory of Western “conspiracy” against Uhuru, and Ruto and therefore backing them when they boycott the ICC trial, they now face Luis Moreno-Ocampo in The Hague as individuals.

The saddest part about the entire ICC trials against Uhuru and Ruto is the attempt by the Kibaki side of the coalition Government to involve the entire administration into the trials. Attorney General Githu Muigai has already engaged a team of lawyers to advice the Government on the trials. Yet in reality Uhuru and Ruto are accused as individuals in The Hague and not as official representatives of the Government of Kenya.

The other miserable fact of the Uhuru-Ruto trials in The Hague is their pretended assumption that the people of Kenya don’t know the truth about the episodes that led to the trials. Almost every Kenyan knows the trials at the ICC are the direct results of the PEV of 2007-8 that saw the deaths of well over 1,300 innocent Kenyans. Kenyans remember that following the sad event of PEV the Waki report made a number of recommendations including the formation of local tribunal to try those suspected of masterminding the bloodbath.

It was only when the country failed to establish a local tribunal that Justice Waki forwarded the names of the suspects to the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who handed them to the ICC. The British had nothing to do with that process; neither did Prime Minister Raila Odinga whom the Uhuru-Ruto defence team is now desperately trying to involve in the PEV.

Another important truth that must be exposed at this moment is the fact that Kikuyus are not on trial in The Hague. Neither are the Kalenjins. Ruto and Uhuru are charged with crimes against humanity as individuals. Kenya is not on trial. So the attempt to involve the whole country through forged documents presented before the National Assembly must be condemned as an extension of the PEV. The two accused people don’t seem to be repentant at all. Instead they want to involve the entire country in the trials they face at the ICC.

Likewise the manner in which they have grouped themselves along tribal lines in order to win the next general election through ethnic nationalism, rather than through policy and party manifesto, also reveals that the PEV has now taken an unrepentant form of planning to rule Kenya through tribal power structure. This is in total disregard of the new constitution which the Ruto-Uhuru group has always opposed.

In all these new political developments in Kenya the role of President Mwai Kibaki is extremely mysterious. The way he has always supported Uhuru Kenyatta clearly proves he is a G7 sympathiser who probably even supports the forgeries in Parliament. The way he reacted to the indictment of Uhuru and Ruto by the ICC clearly proved he was against the trials in The Hague. But then he also knows that 60 per cent of Kenyans support the ICC trials as most people want justice to be done through the international court as Kenya has totally failed to either seek or provide justice on this matter.

Apart from the forgeries being exposed by both the British and Kenyan intelligence agencies, other efforts to destabilise the country because of the ICC trials have been exposed by Prime Minister Raila Odinga. These have been attempts to mobilise Kikuyu and Kalenjin people and make them believe they were all being persecuted by Western “imperialists”. The mobilisation is done through fictitious prayers for the ICC suspects. At these so called prayers extremely inflammatory language is used to tear the country apart.

The country’s internal security agencies have been unusually quiet about the conspicuous mobilisation of the people. The silence is reminiscent of the little action that was taken against hate speeches used during the 2007 election campaigns. It is the hate speeches that led to the PEV which saw bloodbath in the country.
As the campaigns against the ICC gain momentum not a word is spoken by anyone about the fate of the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) made homeless by the PEV. Because they will be a major issue in the next general elections, all presidential candidates are likely to come up with some formula of resettling the IDPs still living in camps. Few will however believe the promises made by the G7politicians who have been in power for almost five years and did absolutely nothing to help the displaced people.

As Kenyans wait for the next general elections the country is dangerously divided along tribal lines. The divisions are even more threatening than they were just before the 2007 elections. If another bloodbath is to be avoided in this country, more serious steps need to be taken to not only implement the Constitution, but also to follow the provisions of the Political Parties Act which prohibits the formation of political parties along tribal lines.

It is also important that Kenyans get to know the actual date when elections will take place. Though Mwai Kibaki has expressed the wish to have them next year, the Prime Minister has read the mood of most Kenyans and expressed the wish to have them take place in December this year. The issue of whether or not Uhuru and Ruto can take part in those elections is pending before court at the moment. The sooner that judgement is made the better it will be for the country.

According to Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo no one accused of crimes against humanity should be allowed to take part in any parliamentary or presidential elections. That is also the feeling of the majority of the people of Kenya today.