By Felix Olick                        

Presidential victory for the Jubilee Alliance may indicate there is something wrong with the charges its two leaders are facing at The Hague, former Eldoret North MP William Ruto has said.

Mr Ruto, who is charged alongside Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and two others, maintained their election victory would compel any reasonable person to give the charges against them a serious thought.

“If the people of Kenya elect two gentlemen who are alleged to have committed serious crimes against its citizens and actually participated in killing their own citizens, I am sure any reasonable person will want to ask themselves what is going on,” posed Ruto.

“Any reasonable person will begin to internalise that maybe there is something wrong with the cases,” he said during an interview with KTN on Wednesday.

Ruto said if they win the presidency, they would ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to design a court calendar that will allow them to govern Kenya even as they attend their daily trials at The Hague.

Non-committal

The Jubilee Deputy President hopeful insisted that Kenya is a signatory to the Rome Statute and the judges at the ICC have an obligation to make sure that Kenya moves on. 

“To the best of my knowledge on March 5, we will sit down with the people running business at The Hague and tell them we have a matter in court, we have every intention to attend, but we also have a country to run,” he said.

However, the former lawmaker remained non-committal on whether they would apply for a deferral in case they triumph in the vote scheduled for March 4, only insisting that “there will be a discussion”.

Ruto said ICC judges would have to appreciate that millions of Kenyans who would have voted for them in case they win have a right to leadership. He maintained Kenyans are least bothered about the ICC process, but are free to consider their choice of the country’s leadership.

Teamed up

He denied claims that they teamed up with Uhuru because of the charges they face at The Hague, arguing that even in 2002, he supported the DPM’s presidential bid.

Meanwhile, Uhuru and Ruto have promised conducive business environment if elected.  While reaching out to the Asian community during a meeting at Visa Oshwal Centre on Wednesday evening, the Jubilee leaders expounded measures they would take to boost investment confidence and ensure a double-digit economic growth.

They also promised to appoint several of them in Government to address their needs. The duo said their manifesto, which will be launched on Sunday, stipulates measures to tackle insecurity and remove bottlenecks that discourage local investment.

“Most importantly, we will ease the bureaucracies that makes it hard for Kenyans to invest. We must simplify the process of starting business. I know how long it takes to even get registration,” said Uhuru. Ruto urged Asians to participate in the elections, promising this year would be peaceful, they said they would reduce cost of doing business.