Let not fixation with ICC derail work on other Bills

Parliament withdrew crucial Bills meant to reform the Judiciary, bowing to a request by the newly constituted Commission for Implementation of the Constitution.

This was a victory for common sense as it is the general opinion that the drafting of the Bills should have awaited the setting up of the CIC as the legally mandated institution meant to advise the Government on matters touching on the implementation of the new laws.

However, a shadow still hangs over the House as the threat by MPs to paralyse Government business is yet to be withdrawn.

That threat was delivered with the intention of forcing the Executive to initiate the process of withdrawing Kenya’s membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It will be sad indeed if the Executive bows to blackmail just to appease, for political expediency, the wishes of a minority of Kenyans who claim to speak for the entire country.

There are more urgent Bills yet to be tabled for debate in the House, and the fixation on the ICC is unhealthy.

In the first place, pulling out of the Rome Statute will not stop the investigations of those named by the ICC as prime suspects for the 2007-08 post-election mayhem.

Street mood

Secondly, the implementation of the new laws is already well behind schedule.

If Parliament continues on the path it had chosen before the recess, it is setting itself up for early dissolution through litigation.

Already, civil society groups are calling for demonstrations and the mood on the street is descending into pre-election mode.

The country does not need these sideshows. Legialstors call themselves ‘honourable’: let them justify the title by listening to the voices of the majority.