To go or not to go? That’s the ICC Big Question

By Billow Kerrow

Undoubtedly, things are elephant. Not just for Uhuruto, but for all of us in the Kenya ship. And just as it hits stormy seas, we keep digging, even deeper.

A few weeks ago, when the terrorists hit Westgate Mall, we were all one. Sadly, 67 Kenyans died in the tragedy and a huge property destroyed. It’s a big loss. Our leaders displayed unprecedented unity and stood together as a nation, in a non-partisan mode.

Then comes The Hague question. Should the country’s president be hauled before the court? Already, his deputy is stuck there for nearly a month.

When his hearing takes a break in November, should the President replace him at the ICC?

Is it a crucial matter of national interest that our president is in the dock in a foreign country for weeks on end when the country is facing major challenges? Over 1,000 Kenyans died and hundreds of thousands were displaced in the 2008 post-election violence.

And the nation’s top-most leaders are wanted in The Hague, now. Cord thinks it is a trivial matter. Its leader will be off to the US this weekend, and the party is adamant that the president must go to The Hague. The national good has taken the back seat.

Just a few weeks ago, I was of the view that Uhuru should attend the court in The Hague, as has his deputy.

It will be a display of humility and a commitment to the rule of law. After all, when the president travels abroad for official duties, his office moves with him to facilitate the execution of his mandate. He could move his office to The Hague and run the country from there without a hustle. That was then.

I no longer think that is tenable.

After watching the court in session the past few weeks, I am inclined to think that this Hague thing is a farce.

The quality of the evidences and its presentation makes you think that this is some court in a banana republic.

It does not strike me as a high institution befitting the trial of a head of state. Indeed, not half as good as Hollywood’s LA Court. This is why I now agree with some folks in the lower House that no Kenyan should ever be tried there in future.

Perhaps, we should never have said let’s go to The Hague. With hindsight, it was collective failure of the nation, especially the political leaders. It’s now dawned on all that the price of our leader’s appearance in The Hague is too high.

We all share in the national shame, the indignity and the shredding of our sovereignty in the full glare of international media. Then, the distraction from important national duty, the occasioned resentment and bitterness, and the utter disregard of their status follows.

To the rest of the world, it’s the perception of a failed state that slaughtered its citizens.

African leaders meeting in Addis Ababa may decide as they wish, even urging Uhuru not to attend the hearing. But the decision ultimately is for Uhuru to make. If you go, you are damned; if don’t, you are damned too!

My hunch is that the court will give in to the Addis pressure and allow a video link, or appearance by the lawyers only as sought by Uhuru’s defence team.

That would be a win-win for all.

If they don’t, my take is that Uhuru will decline to travel and the court will slap him with an arrest warrant. It’s a risk worth taking from the nation’s perspective. For the individual, he will be a fugitive. At home, he will be a hero to many, not a villain.

The writer is a political economist and Mandera County Senator