Opposition faults President Uhuru Kenyatta on ICC pullout bid

Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi. (Photo: Kipsang Joseph/Standard)

Opposition leaders have criticised President Uhuru Kenyatta over his stand on the withdrawal of Kenya from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Leaders from Raila Odinga’s Orange party and Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi said there were many challenges facing Kenya that Uhuru ought to have addressed and not the ICC.

Mr Mudavadi said President Kenyatta’s Jubilee administration has presided over public borrowing that has locked out the private sector and increased the cost of living.

“A poor economy and unprecedented public borrowing locking out the private sector, increasing interest rate, high inflation causing skyrocketing food prices is what he needs to address rather than seething at ICC and the civil society,” he said.

The former deputy premier and National Super Alliance (NASA) proponent said Kenya’s independence did not sanction corruption, marginalisation and ethnic exclusion.

Instead, Mudavadi accused the Jubilee government of undermining the independence pillars of equity in 53 years of self-governance.

Jubilee failures

“In his last year of his term, the President would have done better to recant presiding over an ethnic duopoly brought together by corruption rather than invoking the nationalism of the founding fathers in vain,” he said.

According to Mudavadi, the President confirmed he believes in the deceitful statement “we have set aside” Jubilee development philosophy that is used by his Government to dupe Kenyans.

“I listened to the President’s speech with shock. It wasn’t just a boring recitation of Jubilee failures as success. Under this philosophy, the President reels off figures in billions only his imagination can conjure because poor Kenyans don’t see or feel what these billions do, but know they go into feeding the ogre of corruption,” he said.

MPs Richard Onyonka (Kitutu Chache South), Opondo Kaluma (Homabay Town) and Chris Wamalwa (Kimini) faulted the President for propagating the withdrawal of Kenya from the ICC.

Onyonka reminded Uhuru that ICC never goes for any African leader for no reason but only when they fail to explore local mechanisms.