Bill: What went wrong for the Big Guns?

By Standard on Sunday Reporter

President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka teamed up but failed to push through a Bill that sought to establish a local special tribunal to handle post-election violence cases.

The Big Three had wanted the trials — which could include six ministers — to be carried out on the Kenyan soil.

As they crestfallenly walked out of the chamber, the stunned nation began asking the hard question — what went wrong?

The questions the defeat of the Bill triggered are many:

• Could it be that the three have lost control of their parties and their grip in the management of national affairs has loosened?

• Could they have failed to read the mood in the country and underestimated the nation’s distrust

of a tribunal that could be hostage to the local politics?

Is it that Parliament has become too awesome and overwhelming for the Executive and the defeat is a sign that it could still flex its muscles further to the detriment of the union of convenience that the coalition is turning out to be? Are those for The Hague propelled by partisan interests, such as

knocking some of the ministers off the presidential race in 2012?

Or could they have known they

were squeezing a stone for water but chose to play to the gallery to please the international community?

Finally, could any of them have been pulling in the other direction even as they gave the nation the face of a leadership committed to the Bill?

The nation’s top leaders failed to whip the members of their parties despite a flurry of meetings with MPs

and their presence in Parliament to cast the vote. The Bill fell on the face while the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he was keenly watching events in Kenya. Diplomats warmed up to the idea of a local special tribunal, insulated against interference by law, buoyed by the belief that Kenya’s case was not too grave to deserve ICC’s attention.

The man who mediated the unity pact signed on February 28 — silencing the waves of killings, displacements and dispossessions across the

country — Dr Kofi Annan, regretted the defeat. He subtly warned Kenyans ICC could soon be knocking, impunity must end and the perpetrators of the violence must be brought to account. Despite being the Leader of Government Business, all the MPs in Kalonzo’s ODM-Kenya — except three who hold Cabinet posts — voted against the Bill.

Kibaki and Raila’s troops in the House broke ranks and went to vote with the ‘Nay’ side. After the Bill was lost at the 101 votes against 93, Nairobi

Metropolitan Minister Mutula Kilonzo said the President and the PM should resign because they had

failed to show leadership. No one reprimanded him, not even the Big Two.

The defeat opened another front in the national debate: Is another force that is independent of the Big Three emerging and is a ‘silent’ revolution taking place in the backstage? Whatever the answer, the defeat could turn out to be a ‘yellow’ card shown to Kibaki, Kalonzo and Raila.

It is a pointer to waning trust the coalition kings mean what they say. The anger could have been exacerbated by the lacklustre manner of

the Government in the war against corruption — which currently has pinned two ministers to the wall — Mr William Ruto (Agriculture) and Mr Kiraitu Murungi (Energy).

The nation has been left with opinion sharply divided. The parliamentary process itself was fraught

with manipulation to let off the key suspects. It was Cabinet Minister John Michuki who spilt the beans in Parliament when during debate on the Bill said Kenyans should fight for a tribunal that they could manage and keep in control.

Some MPs interviewed said the defeat and the subsequent blamegame pointed to incongruity in the

Grand Coalition Government that has refused to gel one year down the line despite a public show of unity between the principals.

In a candid admission of the crisis the Government faces, the MPs said the mood in Parliament is palpable, which is increasingly making it impossible for Kibaki and Raila to marshal support to pass Bills despite intense lobbying that sometimes condones bribery.

The setback came hardly a month after the House was recalled from Christmas break to fast-track the

implementation of the recommendations

of the Commission of Inquiry into Post-election Violence (Cipev), among them setting up a Special Tribunal to try the violence perpetrators.

The defeat has temporarily stalled the implementation of Agenda Item Four of the Kenya National Dialogue Reconciliation (KNDR) talks.

Speaking to The Standard on Sunday, Water Minster Charity Ngilu accused some Cabinet colleagues — whose number Justice Minister Martha Karua gave as six on the same day the Motion was defeated — of conniving to frustrate efforts to address crimes against humanity, impunity and human rights abuses committed by poll violence instigators.

"Nobody should blame Kibaki or Raila for the defeat of the motion. Some ministers on the Kibaki side of

the coalition government messed up in their utterances during debate," Ngilu said, singling out Michuki. The biggest question of the day however remains: What does this mean for Kibaki, Raila and Kalonzo and what does the future portend for their tripartite alliance that was grudgingly reached?

 

 

Read all about: Luis Moreno-Ocampo Commission of Inquiry into Post-election Violence Raila Odinga President Kibaki Kalonzo Musyoka Vice President

 

 

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