Uhuru Kenyatta could escape ICC

By Stephen Asiimwe

When Uhuru Kenyatta was indicted as one of the four Kenyans bearing the greatest responsibility for the 2007 election violence, many wrote his political obituary.

But now, will the International Criminal Court (ICC) drop the charges? What will happen after the Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto’s victory? Will they make history by commuting between State House and the ICC at the Hague?

Is ICC saying that Kenyans did not understand that Kenyatta and Ruto have cases to answer? Since the statute of the ICC was adopted in Rome on the July 17, 1998 and entered into force on July 1, 2002, the Court was created to exercise jurisdiction over persons for the most serious crimes and contribute to prevention, how many leaders or individuals outside Africa have been convicted by the same court?

Out of the five permanent members of the UN, only two have ratified and signed the Rome Treaty, a sign of hypocrisy and double standards of the so called human rights defenders that is why nobody will hear any indictments of crimes against humanity in Iraq. UN describes it as illegal war. We must examine if the mission and profit of slave owners, who now torment Africa with lectures on Aid/donations can be accepted at the ICC. ICC must know who sponsored Nuremburg trials of Nazi criminals against humanity; this was the first and last time, and the official world war criminals were subjected to an International Court of Justice. Nobody has been threatened of any crime in Syria and yet people continue to die daily.

I agree with those who say ICC is just another excuse for super power bullying given the stuck evidence of 30 indictees at the ICC all being Africans. No leader or individual from the US, Europe, or Asia, though war crimes have been committed, is indicted.

Despite the challenges faced by IEBC in Kenyan elections, the Kenyans woke up early and expressed their solidarity and love to their country. Therefore, with ICC dropping cases against Muthaura and postponing the hearing of President Elect Uhuru Kenyatta’s case is a sign that ICC is likely to co-operate.

After all, most Kenyans at least learnt something from the scares crow of ICC and people should stop praising them for peaceful elections.

That is what normal society should do.

However, the challenges and opportunities facing Uhuru and Ruto are enormous; they must have the clarity of vision and determination to take Kenya to the next level and unite Kenyans.

The writer is a Pan Africanist