If Moses Kuria's goal was to serve the course of justice, then he might have succeeded, partially. If the Gatundu South MP's goal was to play politics, then it could have backfired badly.
It has backfired on him, the ruling Jubilee Coalition and especially, the country. The rabble-rousing first-time MP kicked up a fire-storm, with his claims that he and his former party PNU had procured witnesses to testify against Deputy President William Ruto in the Kriegler and Waki commissions. In essence suggesting that the proceedings at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, were a stitch-up.
These claims have spewed all sorts of theories about the cause and the status of the crimes against humanity cases that Mr Ruto and former radio journalist Joshua arap Sang face.
The latest entrant in what has become a circus was President Uhuru Kenyatta's snide remarks during Mashujaa Day celebrations at Nyayo National Stadium on Tuesday. If convicted, the two face long periods in jail in a faraway country.
What is good is that the 'revelations" have triggered a national conversation. Most importantly, it has tested the brittleness of our unity, and the maturity of our political conversation.
Indeed it has exposed the crooked nature of our politics; a cocktail of duplicity, back-stabbing, mendacity and numbing opportunism.
Yet the tragedy of the ICC cases is its politicisation. Politics has been introduced to consistently subvert the course of justice. Sadly, but true, the country is witnessing as the worst form of impunity is entrenched. This is manifest in the prayer-cum-political rallies whose aim it seems is to scare the judges into pronouncing a favourable judgement against the accused.
On one hand, members of the ruling Jubilee coalition are falling over each other to portray their loyalty to Mr Ruto, who is often seen as a king-maker. On the other side the Opposition coalition, Cord, wants to take advantage of the situation.
Cord leader Raila Odinga is keen to fuel anxiety within Jubilee to his advantage, hence his announcement of rallies to react to Mr Kuria's confessions. Indeed, Mr Odinga's revelations have introduced a new dimension in the whole conversation. It also raises a lot of questions: As a former Prime Minister, Mr Odinga was at the centre of things, what has made him speak now?
His revelations, like those of Mr Kuria, serve no justice to the nearly 1,300 PEV victims. While that is expected of competitive politics, he owes it to the country to explain why even as the UhuRuto pair traversed the country campaigning in the run-up to the March 2013 General Election, accusing him of "fixing them for political reasons", he kept quiet. Like in Mr Kuria's case, silence was never golden.
In truth, the vote in 2013 was a referendum on the International Criminal Court. President Uhuru Kenyatta, a key beneficiary of the anti-ICC wave, has been quiet until on Mashujaa Day. What took him so long?
Probably as president, he didn't want to be seen to be engaging in what could be considered the usual piffle talk. Yet the issue mattered so much.
Granted, he has so many national issues that need his attention, but this, for what it was and is, needed his attention.
In the run-up to the elections, he and his deputy's rallying call other than an attack on the ICC, was a promise to heal the country. That they have done nothing or little is disappointing. It is now time to walk the talk.
Yet the revelations provide the country a chance to correct past mistakes. This newspaper hopes that the political class will not let a chance to cure the past slip away. That will mean confronting the truth about the cases.
