OPINION: International Criminal Court won’t solve Kenya’s problems, let us preach national unity

There is clear indication that the International Criminal Court which through its former prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo had indicted President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua arap Sang has no case against the three. As the cases facing the three crumble at the ICC due to lack of evidence in the President’s case and false witnesses in the case of the Deputy President and Mr. Sang, Kenyans need to reflect on this situation not only to celebrate but also take advantage of the impending acquittal to embrace one another and demonstrate to the world that we are one country that can’t be divided by politics of malice, propaganda and hatred.

It is easy to conclude that the wedge politics that promoted inter-ethnic hatred during the November 2005 referendum are what eventually culminated into the 2007’s post-election violence that left over a thousand people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Since the post-election violence, Kenya has gone through many stages of recovery and so far the government has played a significant role to ensure that we are on a healing path as a nation. The efforts by the President and his deputy in healing and uniting this country have been conspicuous through their actions since the jubilee government was inaugurated.

True to their promise during the campaigns, the two leaders ensured the settlement and fiscal compensation of all the internally displaced people who were affected by the 2007 post-election violence and other previous inter-ethnic clashes. The two leaders have also been pivotal in bringing together communities that had previously been viewed as hostile to each other. The exertions by the President and his deputy have in the recent past worked to have the Kalenjin community and Kikuyu community enjoy a cordial relationship. Their gospel of having united the country has reached every corner of the republic and now every Kenyan community is at peace with one another.

The proceedings at the International Criminal Court as witnessed by majority of Kenyans have so far made truth to come out. It is so obvious that Kenyans and indeed the whole world have already silently made their verdict on the cases which the prosecutor herself has admitted that she has no evidence against President Uhuru Kenyatta. In the same court, the witnesses who were allegedly meant to testify against DP Ruto have come out openly before the court and declared that they were enticed and coerced to give false testimony against the deputy president. If justice is to prevail, then no doubt we all anticipate unconditional acquittal of the two leaders.

Even with their cases at The Hague, the President and his Deputy have made a lot of progress in nation building. The duo have ignored the cases and treated them as personal challenges thus offering the country uninterrupted service delivery.

There is evident progress that has so far been brought about by devolution and the national government’s effort to entrench it.

It is our duty as elected leaders to continue with the trend that has been set by the leadership of the country and protect the gains so far made. It is so obvious that the current calls for a referendum will not protect the gains so far made but will instead undermine the efforts for building a united country.

Going by recent events and public political pronouncements by some senior opposition leaders, their campaigns are already being built on inter-ethnic hatred. According to our constitution in the unlikely event that we have a referendum, we would still be at very primary stages for such a process. This gives a clear picture of what to expect if the opposition leaders will continue with the kind of rhetoric they are currently perpetuating. It is already apparent that the main agenda of referendum calls is to build ethnic animosity by preaching hatred against certain tribes. This is a very dangerous trend especially when Kenyans reminisce the political rhetoric that preceded the 2007 general elections that later culminated into what almost became full-fledged civil war.

The structures that were put in place with the new political dispensation have also been helpful in toning down apparent animosities.

It is therefore prudent for all leaders now to put priorities of the country ahead of their own and see the need to come together and support the government on delivering on their mandate instead of wasting a lot of time antagonizing the elected leadership.

Let us put more commitment in preaching national unity use our established institutions to address grievances instead of engaging in public spats that have little benefit to the country’s economic progress.

As all of us wait in anticipation of good news from The Hague, let us embrace one another and work with a common goal of making our country’s economic future bright and accommodative of the coming generations; this we can only do if we maintain focus on most important issue based engagements and not just empty meaningless rhetoric.

Mr.  John Ndirangu is the MP for Embakasi Central, Nairobi County