Speakers set to recall Kenya Parliament over Hague

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto are facing crimes against humanity charges at The Hague. [Photo: File/Standard]

By ALEX NDEGWA and GEOFFREY MOSOKU

KENYA: Parliament is set for an early reopening this week to discuss the International Criminal Court cases against President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto.

Also on the list of urgent business planned by the Leader of Majority in Parliament is the tabling of a bill to remove Kenya from the Rome Statute. This Monday morning, Jubilee Coalition parliamentary leaders will meet to kick-start the process to have Parliament recalled earlier than the scheduled September 17 date.

And it also emerged on Sunday that President Uhuru Kenyatta secured the backing of Chinese President Xi Jinping for referral of the ICC cases during recent State visit to China. When contacted by The Standard yesterday, the Chinese Embassy explained China’s position on the ICC cases against the Kenyan leaders.

“The Chinese Government understands the concerns of the Kenyan Government over the ICC cases and supports efforts by the Kenyan Government to put these cases to an end,” said Shifan Wu, a spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy. “We hope the ICC can fully respect Kenya’s judicial sovereignty.”

National Assembly Leader of the Majority Party Aden Duale will hold talks with his Senate colleague Kithure Kindiki as Jubilee begins the fight back against the ICC.

“We require a certain number of signatures but that shouldn’t be a problem because the coalition has more than 200 MPs. A short text message will easily mobilise our members,” Duale told The Standard yesterday.

The Garissa Township MP said the coalition has prioritised an adjournment Motion for three consecutive days on the ICC trials facing the two leaders.

“We want to introduce a Motion of adjournment as a matter of national importance to discuss the humiliation of our leaders and to express disgust at the development,” said Duale.

Special sitting

Duale and Kindiki will sponsor the adjournment Motions at the National Assembly and the Senate respectively.

Standing Order 29(1) stipulates while the House is on recess, the Speaker may, on the request of the Leader of the Majority Party or the Leader of the Minority Party, appoint a day for a special sitting of the House.

“Th Speaker may allow a request under paragraph (1) if the Speaker is satisfied that the business proposed to be transacted relates to the matters specified under Standing Order 61 (Special motions) or other urgent and exceptional business as the Speaker may allow,” state the House rules.

Another agenda is to press for the ratification by Parliament of the African Union (AU) resolution that urged the ICC to cede jurisdiction of the cases against Kenyatta and Ruto to Kenyan courts. African leaders condemned the ICC for unfairly targeting Africans during the 21st ordinary session of the AU in Addis Ababa.

“We want to take the lead by having the Kenyan Parliament adopt this resolution. Thereafter we will lobby other African Parliaments to adopt the same,” Duale explained.

And finally to sever links with the ICC, the ruling Coalition will present a Bill to Parliament to repeal the Rome Statute from the country’s laws.

“We want to join the US and other nations that said no to the ICC. I will table the Bill as a follow up to the Motion passed by the last Parliament,” he added.

“African countries will get out of this court that targets Africans. This has nothing to do with the cases before the court,” he said.

Kericho County Senator Charles Keter added: “They want to frustrate them (Uhuru and Ruto) and we are telling parliamentarians it’s time to repeal the law and pull the country out of the Rome statute.”

During a heated session in December 2010 Parliament approved a Motion seeking the repeal of the International Crimes Act to free the country from obligation to implement the Rome Statute, which establishes the ICC.

The Motion, which was sponsored by Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto, called for 2008 post-election violence cases to be tried locally, and asked the Government to cut links with the ICC.

It came a day after the then ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo named six individuals against whom he had filed two cases over post-election violence.

Cases dropped

The court has since dropped the cases against three. The ruling coalition enjoys a majority in both Houses and hopes to flex its numerical strength to fend off opposition.

CORD leaders have publicly questioned how the country would be governed while the two leaders were on trial at The Hague.

And to counter the CORD narrative, Jubilee leaders will roll out nationwide prayer rallies, such as those witnessed in the lead up to the March 4 presidential vote.

Yesterday, CORD leaders warned it would not be easy to repeal the Rome Statute, saying such a big decision could not be left in the hands of legislators only.

Though opposition said it would not block the plan to recall the House, its leaders vowed to resist any vote seeking to remove Kenya as a State party to the Rome Statute.

Minority Leader in the National Assembly Francis Nyenze said the country has to go to the referendum over whether to withdraw from the ICC or not.

“CORD will not support any Motion seeking to repeal the Rome Statute on the floor of the House. In any case this is a big decision to be made by the country by involving the people through a referendum,” Nyenze said.