Raila defends Annan over ICC cases

By WAINAINA NDUNG’U and MUNENE KAMAU                        

NAIROBI, KENYA: Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has defended peace negotiator Kofi Annan against accusations that he is interfering with Kenya’s internal affairs.

Raila said those accusing Annan of meddling were insincere because it was the Kenya Parliament, not Annan, that passed a motion to refer the cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Raila said it was the height of folly to blame the innocent, including him and Annan, over the ICC cases when Kenya’s Parliament had turned down his and former President Mwai Kibaki’s plea to set up a local tribunal to try those with the highest responsibility over the 2008 post-election violence.

Raila had picked a challenge from Kirinyaga Central MP Gachoki Gitari who told him to tell Annan to keep from commenting on the ICC affairs, because it amounted to interfering with Kenya’s internal affairs.

“With all due respect, Mr retired PM, we are sending you to Annan to tell him to keep off. He should not advise us because we are a sovereign nation,” the MP had told Raila at a memorial service for retired Anglican Archbishop David Gitari in Kirinyaga County.