Will President Kenyatta attend his ICC trial?

George Ayugi (right), a Kenyan, joins activists outside ICC in protesting against the detention of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo. President’s Uhuru’s trial is slated to start in November in the same court. [PHOTO: PIUS CHERUIYOT/STANDARD]

By GEOFFREY MOSOKU

KENYA: Will President Uhuru Kenyatta travel to The Hague, Netherlands, for his ICC trial scheduled to start on November 12?

That is the question Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed sought to answer at a press conference she called Wednesday at Harambee House.

Her answer? “The trial is about a month away, I think we should wait and see. There is a request that has been put before the court for the President to be allowed to attend the sessions via video link, and we are waiting for the decision to be made on that. Going forward we will have to wait to hear from the court.”

She continued: “As you know, he has always co-operated with the court up until now. The circumstances are different, absolutely, totally, completely different. Before he wasn’t Head of State of the Republic, today he is the Head of State of the Republic.

“It is going to be the first time a serving Head of State is brought before any court of any kind, not just here, but anywhere in the world, and I could challenge you to tell me in what place on earth a serving president has been brought before a court of justice,” she added.

Amb Mohamed explained that at least one pending ruling by ICC judges could inform subsequent decisions by Kenyan authorities. That is President Kenyatta’s application to be allowed to follow trial proceedings via video link from Nairobi, which is pending alongside another seeking that he be excused from attending all sessions.

The questions revolved around whether the President would travel to The Hague given calls by supporters that he should not present himself to the International Criminal Court and an upcoming African Union meeting pressing for referral of the Kenyan cases.

The Press briefing comes ahead of Saturday’s special AU summit of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Two priorities

Amb Mohamed reiterated that President Kenyatta has a constitutional mandate bestowed on him by the people of Kenya who elected him, a position, she added, the international community and the ICC should respect.

“In most cases, in fact more countries that are considered more advanced than ours, it is clear that presidents are not hauled before court, and that in many cases, the courts have to wait for their day after the president leaves office,” she said.

The Cabinet Secretary added: “That has been true for many presidents in the North and so, seriously, that is not a question I can answer right now, we have a request before the court, we want to co-operate, we want that space to expand, and not to continue to diminish, because we want to do two things: We have to do what we are doing in court right now and we have duty for the President, a duty for the people who elected the President, that he should govern, so he must balance those two priorities so that none of them is affected unfairly.”

President Kenyatta skipped the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last month, citing the ICC cases. The constitution, he said, did not allow him and his deputy to be out of the country at the same time.

Deputy President William Ruto is attending trial at The Hague. Yesterday, Ruto’s lawyers led by Karim Khan began cross-examining the second Prosecution witness.

Pressed by Khan, the witness admitted that he did not hear Ruto utter any inciting statement in the build-up to the 2007 polls.

The Kenyan cases at the ICC against the President, his deputy and journalist Joshua Sang will feature at Saturday’s special AU summit, whose agenda includes “discussion” on the theme “Africa’s Relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC).”

Out of touch

Also for consideration is a progress report on the implementation of the decision by the AU Assembly of May 2013, which pressed for the referral of the ICC cases against Uhuru and Ruto, citing a reformed Judiciary and threats to peace and security.

On Wednesday, Amb Mohamed refuted claims that Kenya had called for the special AU meeting to lobby African nations to pull out of the ICC. She explained that two other states had called the meeting “and I challenge you to go and find for yourself which countries they are.”

But she explained that African nations were free to meet whenever they wanted and to discuss whatever issue they wished.

Any country is free to present its agenda at the meeting, she added.

At the same time, the Cabinet Secretary told off former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who has warned Kenya against pulling out of the ICC.

“As you know he (Annan) lives in Switzerland and may not be in touch with the reality on the ground as much as he is entitled to his opinion. In any case, he does not speak for any organisation, nor does he represent anybody,” she quipped.

African leaders have threatened to pull out of the ICC, which they accuse of “race hunting” against Africa.

Thirty-four African nations are members of the ICC, making up the biggest bloc.