By RASNA WARAH Posted Sunday, November 15 2009 at 19:48
IN RECENT DAYS, SOME POLITI-cians have been trying to convince the world that Kenya is a sovereign nation that cannot be dictated to by foreign powers and individuals. They claim that the likes of Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Kofi Annan are foreigners meddling in Kenyan affairs.
Some have even gone as far as disowning “our son” Barack Obama for inflicting punitive visa bans on his brethren. Suddenly, Moreno-Ocampo’s Argentinian nationality has become more important to these politicians than the fact that he heads an international criminal court that Kenya is signatory to.
They also fail to recognise that Mr Annan is an envoy of the African Union, an organisation that Kenya is a member of. And after lauding Obama for being “the first Kenyan president of the US”, the politicians have suddenly realised that Obama is, in fact, an American citizen.
Yet all this chest-thumping about sovereignty rings hollow when one looks at the facts on the ground. Firstly, if Kenya had done such a wonderful job of governing itself and handling the post-election violence, Mr Annan would have never set foot in the country in the first place.
So, in a sense, Kenya lost its sovereignty when our leaders proved to be incapable of containing the violence, and when Mr Annan and all the foreign dignitaries, including Tanzanian President Kikwete and then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice landed on Kenyan soil. Our so-called sovereignty has been further eroded since then. Our leaders have been aggressively reaching out to donors to feed our famine-stricken communities or to shelter internally displaced persons.
They feel no shame in begging donors for food or money so why do they not understand when those same donors ask for something in return? Did the political leaders believe that the signing of the peace accord was a green light to let business continue as usual?
Now, two years later, Kenyans are still wondering if any of the perpetrators and masterminds of the post-election violence will ever face justice. To be honest, given the track record of prosecutions in Kenya, particularly of those who are politically-connected, many Kenyans are relieved that no special tribunal, as recommended by the Waki Commission, has been formed so far as it would, like many courts in the country, be manipulated to subvert justice in the interests of the politically connected.
In fact, I doubt if any Kenyan still believe that any of the accused in the Waki list will ever stand in the dock in our country’s courts and be prosecuted. Kenyans can only hope for justice outside the country and that is why many have come to see Moreno-Ocampo as a saviour.
APART FROM THE FACT THAT THE Waki list contains names of prominent politicians, some of whom form the cabinet, what really scares the current political establishment is that prosecution by the International Criminal Court would be tantamount to declaring Kenya a failed state, and this declaration could lead to other unwelcome developments.
For instance, failed states do not attract investors or tourists. People see them as dangerous and unpredictable places where terrorists or militia control entire territories. Worse, they become the laughing stock of the international community.
For the accused persons, the ICC will mean months of incarceration and interrogation, not to mention humiliation. If the Kenya Government fails to arrest them, they will be under virtual “house arrest” in the country as travelling outside could lead to their arrest and extradition.
Kenyans lost their sovereignty in January 2008. We had plenty of opportunities to reclaim this sovereignty in the last two years, but we did not take up the challenge. Kenya may appear to be back on its feet, but this is largely because of the resilience of the Kenyan people, not necessarily because of deliberate government attempts to right the wrongs of the past.
The hopes of the hundreds of those whose family members were murdered and the thousands who were raped, tortured and mutilated now rests with the ICC and the international community. Fortunately, Moreno-Ocampo built his career by bringing to justice perpetrators of extra-judicial killings and disappearances in his homeland, and is therefore familiar with the consequences of impunity.
He is undoubtedly a hero to Ruth Njeri, a victim of gang rape during the violence who is now raising her rapist’s child, who told a reporter recently: “If Kenya is to be saved from the crimes of these power-hungry politicians who can go to any length for personal gain, the government has to set a precedent and allow the ICC to do its work to ensure that nothing like this ever happens here, or anywhere else.”
rasna.warah@gmail.com
Comments