By Peter Njenga

One, Gema, like the Luo Council of Elders or Kalenjin Council of Elders seeks to foster social harmony ¡ª both internally among its jurisdiction and externally by way of extending a hand of brother/sisterhood to other Kenyans ¡ª through summoning shared cultural virtues, sensibilities, attitudes and worldviews.

Two, Gema like any other genuine cultural association is driven by the belief that culture is the centerpiece of a peoples¡¯ identity and sense of dignity. Communities that work their way to shedding retrogressive tendencies and getting comfortable in their skins are likely to overcome phobias that drive humans to act irresponsibly under the spell of unfounded suspicion against others.

In that respect, Gema¡¯s most critical quest is to lay the basis for effective management of unity in diversity in Kenya, starting with the communities that dominate Central Kenya.

That said, the resolutions of Gema Cultural Association at the Limuru II Conference on March 23rd, were obviously considerably misrepresented and understood out of context in sections of the media and in some political quarters.

What we said is that now that the date of the next General Election is a good as fixed on March 4, 2013, the ICC will be requested to organise its Trial dates to accommodate the Kenyan campaign/elections calendar so that the election and Trial do not run concurrently.

The context in which Limuru II addressed itself to the proceedings of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague is three-fold and indeed a complex cocktail of interlocking factors. The ensuing factors are themselves fused with issues of sustainable peace, justice, healing and reconciliation in Kenya in the aftermath of the 2008 post-election violence.

Incidentally, over the past four years, Kenya has demonstrated the fastest and most comprehensive turnaround in a post-conflict situation of any country in living memory. We turned away in the nick of time, established a Grand Coalition Government and healing and reconciliation processes, promulgated a new Constitution and are now in the midst of law and other institutional reforms.

Gema is on its part determined to ensure that there is no back-sliding to anarchy and violence and the first thing is to see to it that the enabling environment for a return to the precipice of chaos is not again put in place, even by acts omission or commission.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Gema is acutely aware of the fact that men and women of goodwill everywhere want to see an exemplary deterrent outcome in the ICC cases. But deterrence based on selective application of justice is a miscarriage or misapplication of justice.

Some of the individuals, entities and governments most loudly calling for the ICC to rush to judgement on the four Kenya cases are not sincere at all. In fact, some critical quarters seem totally unmindful of the fact that the ICC means different things to different people. The fact is not lost on the people of Mt Kenya ¡ª and millions of other Africans ¡ª that the US, for instance, is not only NOT a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC but also constantly puts pressure on member-states of the Statute and non-members alike to endorse a piece of US legislation known as Article 98.

This Article enjoins all who endorse it never to surrender an American citizen to ICC¡¯s jurisdiction.

Caught red-handed

And yet certain American individuals, entities, envoys and government officials are all for Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta, and three other prominent Kenyans, being processed and preferably permanently undone for all time by the ICC in a prosecution that is so deeply flawed it has injustice hopelessly written all over it.

At the grassroots throughout the Mt Kenya heartland and its many Diasporas around the world, there is a quiet and growing groundswell of pure indignation at the fact that Uhuru should be considered to be fit fodder for a jurisdiction that America and its key allies regard as unfit to try even its lowest ranking trained killers, even when they are caught red-handed.

This vast feeling of grievance is a dangerous breeding ground for all sorts of major discontent in Kenya¡¯s most populous and most prosperous regions. We in Gema know this intimately, up, close and personal, and we recognise it for the clear and present danger and gathering storm that it is.

It is a feeling that is also deep-seated among Rift Valley communities on behalf of Eldoret North MP William Ruto, the other declared Presidential candidate alongside Uhuru who controversially has a case before the ICC.

Thirdly, it was the ICC itself which clarified that Uhuru, Ruto, Francis Muthaura and Joshua Sang are free to pursue their interests, including political, including running elective office, including the Presidency.

In urging that the ICC be delicately sensitive and understanding about the dynamics of the Presidential contest of the 11th General Election in Kenya, Gema was simply pointing out that the Court must under no circumstances appear to be taking back what it gave with its right hand (saying the accused could pursue their lawful political interests and agendas) and at the same time taking with its left (setting a calendar for the cases that can only thwart these interests and agendas).

Kenya is not a failed state, there is no civil war going on within our borders and we are surely one of the world¡¯s leading states and societies when it comes to the reform and transformational change agenda and appetite for good governance.

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Bishop (Rtd) Peter Njenga is the Co-chair, Gema Cultural Association.