[UAH] I wants you dirty, corrupt mens to drop foolish cases

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/kenya-petitions-unsc-to-end-uhuru--ruto-icc-cases/-/434750/1849136/-/25816rz/-/index.html

 

The inevitable has happened. Rather sooner than expected. But expected nonetheless.

An astonishing statement submitted to the (currently Togolese) president of the United Nations Security Council on May 2 and forwarded to all Security Council members on May 3, ostensibly for consideration in advance of a May 7 meeting with the International Criminal Court Prosecutor, demands that the Security Council support Kenya by terminating the cases before the ICC. The demand for termination is outside of the powers of the Security Council.

But the statement argues that, because of the ICC cases, Kenya is on a "leash," the president and vice-president cannot perform their duties.

The statement accuses the Office of the Prosecutor of initiating the cases by "cherry-picking" from an unverified list of potential suspects, failing to investigate, relying on evidence procured by corruption and inducement as well as coaching and compromising witnesses to make false or manufactured claims.

These grave allegations are unsubstantiated. Because of this, they have the potential to backfire against the government of Kenya as a whole — and, no doubt, they will, as soon as they are raised before the Judges.

It concludes that the Office of the Prosecutor is not just incompetent, but also neither impartial nor independent. For the cases are, supposedly, solely backed by "actors within and without."

The second argument is that Kenyans "overwhelmingly" voted for the ICC suspects and thus the ICC cases are "undermining Kenyan voices." The supposed electoral results mean the "humanity" in whose interest the ICC is meant to act has proclaimed the ICC suspects innocent.

This is, of course, outrageous. Even if the supposed results are accepted as valid, half the country's vote is not an overwhelming endorsement. Half the country's vote is, in fact, less than the latest opinion polls demonstrating majority support for the ICC.

The third and final argument is that the ICC cases are not in the interest of peace. The statement proclaims that the ICC suspects are "agents of cohesion" and the "glue binding the country together." It claims their absence would undermine peace and create insecurity for Kenya's neighbours.

These claims are also nonsense. Kenya is more divided than ever — elite political inclusion of the Gikuyu and Kalenjin may contain the structural causes of division between the Gikuyu and Kalenjin communities. But it does not resolve those structural causes. Neither does it cater for elite political inclusion of the rest of the country or structural causes of division in the rest of the country.

Thus, the first mystery is: What was the statement truly intended to achieve? Its arguments are weak — and, in the case of the serious unsubstantiated allegations against the Office of the Prosecutor, damning to the GoK.

Addressing the Security Council is not the same as addressing a Jubilee campaign rally. Facts matter — and, even when a state is lying, it helps if it lies with decorum.

The second mystery is who generated this unhelpful (from the point of view of both the ICC suspects and the GoK) statement. It is signed by the head of the Kenyan Mission to the UN. But it reads more like Jubilee propaganda than a considered diplomatic document.

It also veers off into the first-person — it is hard to imagine that a diplomat would represent the views of the state in such an embarrassing and personalised manner.

Heads will, no doubt, roll. Unfortunately for the statement's authors, those heads are unlikely to belong to the Office of the Prosecutor.

 

L. Muthoni Wanyeki is doing her graduate studies at L'Institut d'etudes politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, France

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