Kenya Should Slow Down on the ICC
Only a fool can advise Kenya to pull out
of the ICC at this time but I doubt we have a shortage of such at home, after
all, how did Kenya’s leadership handle the cases at the ICC? Kenya was so
combative. That combative approach sometimes pays but not always. The country
may have succeeded in turning the ICC into an international mockery but it may
not always succeed in all its other moves against The Hague based international
tribunal. If I were them, I would advise them to cool the heads and make sober
moves based not only on well calculated moves but also reasoned choices. Kenya
is at the crossroads. It is not the right time for Kenya to contemplate, leave
alone taking a lead in AU’s onslaught against the ICC, after all, people like
Museveni are very good at pushing the rest to the fire. Kenya’s leadership may
have trusted Museveni way too much not until when he surprised them with the oil
pipeline. Mr. Kenyatta must start thinking when and where Museveni’s friendship
starts and ends.
It is not the right time for Kenya to
think about quitting the ICC, actually there shall never be such a time. Kenya
is safe with the ICC than not. There shall come a time when Kenya will need the
ICC more than any other thing. Signs of the time do not lie but they need to be
read and read well. Anyway, it is fine if Kenya still wants to quit the ICC,
the country has a very clear framework to do so but then I still insist if such
is to happen, it should not be allowed to happen now for it is simply not the right
time. There are a number of reasons.
Kenya would antagonize the international
community and is likely to lose some allies or and slow down relations with
certain friends. With all the current issues in the regional balance of power,
such as the rise of Tanzania, the politics of the oil pipeline and the standard
gauge railway (SGR) touching on Uganda and Rwanda respectively, it appears that
the cods that bind the nations of the East African Community (EAC) together are
starting to loosen. Let Kenya not forget
that it is still fresh in the
minds of many nations how the country arrogantly antagonized the international
community over the ICC cases. Many have not forgotten the disorder and
embarrassment caused by Kenyan leaders during the assembly of state parties to
the Rome Statute and many have not forgotten those turf statements as uttered
by Kenya’s top diplomat Ms. Amina Mohammed and blackmailing by the defense
cabinet secretary, Ms. Raychelle Omamo. Many countries that have been good
friends with Kenya, especially those in Eastern Europe, openly expressed their
displeasure with the manner in which Kenya conducted itself and the tactics
that the country deployed against the ICC. An outright cutting of ties with the
ICC, in as much as it may appear enticing to Kenya’s leadership, it may lead to
a revisit of ties with Kenya by some longtime friends and there won’t be much
to celebrate about that but a lot to lose.
Let Kenya not
forget that alternatives, in the name of Rwanda and Tanzania have since emerged
in the region and many countries will find it not difficult at all to shift
their focus as it was sometimes back. Things have changed. It is no longer that
time when foreign nations would only think about Kenya as the getaway to east
and central Africa. Kenya’s mistake on its international obligations at this
point in time, following a series of bad conduct may taint its global image and
lead to very bad consequences. Furthermore, the current political challenges at
home touching on critical institutions like the Independent Electoral and
Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the judiciary, arbiters of a free and fair
election are already eroding international confidence in Kenya as the country
fast approaches another, to be very divisive, elections. I would advise Ambassador Amina to slow down on her
enthusiastic offensive against the ICC and focus on mending relations with
countries whose relations with Kenya have been bruised especially those in
eastern Europe. Kenya may need them at some point, probably sooner than the
country’s leadership seems to think.
Kenya Should Slow Down on the ICC
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
May 26, 2016
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