19 thoughts on “Implications of Uhuru-Ruto Presidency in Kenya: Download”
Kenya: Uhuru, Ruto Plan to Seek ICC Extension
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 – 00:00 — BY STAR TEAM
DEPUTY Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto are considering a possible postponement of their trials at the ICC. Their trials are due to start on April 10 and 11, the very day scheduled for the second round run-off of the presidential election.
Their strategists are looking at ways of having the trials postponed for at least a year, especially if Uhuru wins the presidential election in the first round on March 4.
Ruto is Uhuru’s running-mate for deputy president on the Jubilee Coalition ticket. However lawyer Katwa Kigen denied that his clients Ruto and broadcaster Joshua arap Sang were involved in such discussions. “No such plans for Ruto and Sang,” said Kigen.
However insiders have indicated that if they win, Uhuru and Ruto would want to stabilise their government by creating structures that would allow them to run state affairs while resident in the Hague.
Uhuru and Ruto must appear in the Hague for the start of their trials on April 10 and 11, unless the Trial Chamber grants an adjournment which seems unlikely at this stage.
Uhuru recently told al Jazeera that he would attend the trial at the ICC but could run the government from the Hague if their Jubilee Coalition wins the election.
Insiders said that Uhuru and Ruto are likely to argue that they have not been given enough time to prepare for trial as ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has been seeking to only disclose some of her witnesses after the trial has started.
They may also adopt a strategy used by former Liberian leader Charles Taylor who postponed his trial for seven months by sacking his lawyers at the last minute .
On June 4, 2007, just before his trial started, Taylor wrote to the ICC judges complaining that he was being denied a fair trial and advising the court that he no longer wanted to be represented by his assigned lawyers.
However, according to sources close to the ICC cases, this would be the last option for Uhuru and Ruto who reportedly have asked their lawyers to see how they can argue for more time to prepare their cases.
There is concern within Jubilee circles that former Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura, Uhuru’s co-accused, and Sang, Ruto’s co-accused, might not support this strategy.
Muthaura in particular wants the trial to proceed as quickly as possible and has even limited the number of challenges that might delay the case.
Uhuru and Ruto are also said to be waiting for the outcome of two applications to the ICC to relocate the trials to Kenya or Tanzania. They believe that there would then be no need for a postponement as they could easily run the government while remaining in East Africa.
Their lawyers are still working on how to challenge the limited disclosure of evidence by the prosecutor so far, especially over witness identities.
Bensouda presented her list of witnesses to the judges on January 9 but will only make the list partially available to the defence on February 11.
The prosecutor will release all the names by March 13, four weeks before the trials begin. Bensouda told the trial chamber judges that she may still adjust her list of witnesses and seek to delay disclosure of some witnesses.
Uhuru and Ruto may argue that this would not give them enough time to prepare their defence as they need to investigate prosecution witnesses.
Their lawyers would argue that they cannot cross-examine witnesses when they have only just learned their identities and nature of their evidence. Once they start, the trials of Uhuru and Ruto are likely to continue for several years.
Bensouda has already told the court that she will need an estimated 826 hours to present her case against William Ruto and Sang and 572 hours to present evidence against Uhuru and Muthaura.
The court hours at the ICC run from 9.30am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 4pm, a total of five hours a day, or 25 hours a week. In addition, defence lawyers will probably take the same amount of time to present their own witnesses.
That will come to at least 2,800 hours in court, that will take 112 weeks to dispose of, not counting public holidays or delays caused by sickness or legal challenges.
MY FELLOW KENYANS:
On February 11th 2013, Uhuru will join Raila & all other Presidential Candidates for a TV debate which will be aired live on all TV channels. This is our grand opportunity to send questions to Uhuru during the Debate so he can tell us exactly how a Uhuru Government will cope with running the affairs of State while he and Ruto will be attending their ICC cases for the next five years:
Q1: Who will deliver the State Address at the opening of the New Parliament?
Q2: How will he make Government appointments while based at The Hague ? Will the Head of Civil Service be flying there all the time with confidential files on appointees?
Q3: How will the Cabinet brief President Uhuru and VP Ruto at The Hague? By emails? Are our State secrets safe from prying eyes ? Will there be weekly Cabinet meetings at The Hague?
Q4: What measure will be put in place to ensure the hotel rooms of President Uhuru and VP Ruto are safe from bugging?
Q5: How many Kenyan security men will be required to keep guard on Uhuru & Ruto a t The Hague?
Q6: Why should the Kenyan Taxpayer have to foot the bill for the President’s security detail in The Hague since Uhuru is not going to be there on trial as President but as an individual?
Q7: The ministers and PSes going to & fro The Hague will cost a lot of money. Why should this be charged to the taxpayer?
Q8: Where will Uhuru receive new Foreign Ambassadors accredited to Kenya ? Will he receive their credentials at The Hague?
Q9: Who will represent Kenya at international summits including AU ones?
Q10: Uhuru & Ruto will not be able to pay state and official visits to foreign countries. Wont this severely affect Kenya’s international diplomatic posture?
Q11: Who will preside on National Day Celebrations?
Q12: How will Uhuru cope in the event of a major emergency situation?
Q13: Uhuru will not be able to tour the eight regions of Kenya. Wont this create a disconnect between the Centre and the regions?
Q14: It is customary for the President to receive daily intelligence briefings from the head of the intelligence. This cannot be emailed to him. Nor is it safe for the head of the intelligence service to put top secret reports in his briefcase and fly to The Hague to hand to Uhuru.
Q15: Neither is it safe or acceptable for Uhuru to keep top state secrets in his hotel room. Or even at the Kenyan embassy.
If you have more ICC questions to add, send them. I a m emailing mine to the Presidential Debate organisers.
This is a very pertinent article especially under Section IV, on the possible implications of an Uhuru-Ruto presidency. The President and the Deputy President are obliged by the new Constitution to be present in the country during the formative stages of the new Government to coordinate the numerous branches of Government. For instance, the President should chair weekly Cabinet meetings to ensure that the executive wing runs efficiently. The Deputy President has executive powers and must oversee certain duties directly without delegating them, etc.
Given the above and much more, how will Uhuru and Ruto run the affairs of Kenya if they win the first round on March 4th and are sworn in on March 26th? They will be in The Hague within a few days to attend trials on April 10th and 11th respectively. The ICC Prosecutor Ms. Fatou Bensouda mentioned that the court’s calendar won’t change. The suspects have applied for a year’s delay before the trials begin, to enable them stabilize their government. It is estimated that the trials will run for at least two years and will demand five hours of physical presence in the court every weekday. Both Uhuru and Ruto believe that the ICC process will not hinder their leadership.
It will be interesting to read reactions from KSB commentators.
The people of great Rift Valley should Pity William Ruto Arap Somoe for allowing him to be molested and impregnated by uhuru Muigai Kenyatta hence He will be dumped by Uhuru and even asassinated Tom Mboya style.
Ruto must be the Most Useless (kalenjin) Laibon (Mchawi) to be duped& conned by Gema Cunning tribe.
Where are Kalenjins left with normal brain hence Kikuyu art of hyponoticing primitive wild Kales”!
Electing UHURU/ RUTO for PRESIDENCY is the WORST THING that could happen in Kenya
By Kibiwott Kurgat
The determination of the Jubilee Coalition to form the next government is an open invitation for Kenyan voters to begin to confront squarely the implications of a victory for Uhuru and Ruto, who face serious criminal charges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Contrary to the stance taken by the two candidates, Kenya simply cannot wish away the ICC cases or the likely impact on the country’s domestic performance and relations with the world.
Hours after the defiant pair’s open-top ride into State House, the diplomatic reverberations of the collective vote of no confidence in Kenya will shake the very foundations of our country.
The promise of a country that prides itself as one of the four economic pillars of Africa — the others being Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa — will wither before our very eyes.
The trillion-shilling plans to finance Africa’s largest infrastructure project to serve South Sudan and Ethiopia will likely run aground.
Which is why some in the Uhuru-Ruto camp have claimed that once in office, the Kenyan Constitution entitles the two to immunity from prosecution on the ICC cases while they remain in office.
This could not be further from the truth. As a signatory to the Rome Statute, Kenya will be under obligation to meet the terms of the ICC, which the accused are well aware of.
Any attempt at circumventing the law would drag the country the way Omar Al-Bashir has done to Sudan; a pariah state that exists perilously on the fringes of the international scene.
Under the diplomatic cloud that would follow, it is not difficult to fathom another attempt to prise Unep out of Nairobi.
It is well known that Germany, France and South Africa have previously been linked to offers to host this key agency, but Kenya has so far had the international goodwill on its side.
The very thought of this should worry many businesses anchored around the UN agency — including property owners — and its hundreds of local employees. Kenyans might not know this, but the UN establishment in Gigiri is one of Kenya’s main sources of foreign currency, perhaps as important as tea or coffee.
Voters have a right to know early enough that should Kenya confront the international community in the manner suggested by the coalition, it will suffer this and other economic and diplomatic consequences.
If the coalition has any plan to counter the economic disruptions that will follow, this has yet to be articulated.
What is clear is that the loss of Western goodwill would lead directly to cutbacks in international financing for important sectors such as infrastructure, health and currency stabilisation, leading to economic turmoil.
It is a situation reminiscent of a period Kenyans would like to forget in a hurry, the aftermath of the post-election violence in 2007 and 2008. Within months, the economic meltdown caused by lost production, slump in tourism and a halt in investment inflows reversed GDP growth into negative territory, a trend that Kenya is only now recovering from.
Reaching out to Tanzania and Burundi for diplomatic support, as the coalition leaders have done in recent weeks, would appear to suggest that they do not appreciate the sheer magnitude of Kenya’s predicament under an Uhuru-Ruto leadership.
Whether or not similar visits planned for Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda go ahead is neither here nor there. Voters are therefore called upon to balance the right of the ICC pair to run for office against the overriding interests of 40 million Kenyans.
Disastrous Economic Implications of An Uhuru – Ruto Presidency
Posted on October 30, 2012 by Acbnews International
Regardless of whether Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are innocent, and notwithstanding their support in their ethnic strongholds, we as a nation have to soberly and rationally consider what an Uhuru or Ruto presidency will mean for Kenya.
As Kofi Annan, the African Union envoy who mediated the 2008 peace deal, said recently, if an ICC suspect assumes the presidency in the next election, the consequences for Kenya could be disastrous politically and economically. Here’s why:
1. Kenya could be labelled a pariah state by the international community. This will mean that donors will withdraw their moral and financial support to Kenya. Donor-funded long- and medium-term plans and projects, such as Vision 2030, will be shelved. Poverty levels will rise. Economic growth rates will decline. Kenya will not attain middle income status by 2030.
2. Western nations may impose a trade embargo on Kenya. The African Union, which backed the peace process, may press upon its members to impose sanctions on Kenya. Kenya’s coveted membership in the East African Community might also be threatened.
Domestic revenues may see Kenya through, but without trading partners, revenue from exports will fall, leading to further hardships. Just ask the Cubans what the 50-year US trade embargo has done to their economy and you will see why this scenario is not desirable.
3. The United Nations may pull out of Kenya and set up base in a neighbouring country, thereby severely affecting the local economy. Revenue gained from UN conferences, contracts and projects will disappear. If the UN leaves, Kenya will lose millions of dollars that pass through the country’s banks. Nairobi’s housing and retail markets that cater for UN staff will collapse.
4. Like Zimbabweans under Robert Mugabe, Kenyans will start seeking refuge and jobs in neighbouring countries. Kenya will be viewed as a failed state like Somalia, generating the large numbers of refugees and IDPs.
Western countries will start to impose harsher travel restrictions on Kenyans. Middle and upper class Kenyans who can afford to travel and send their children abroad for further studies may be particularly affected.
5. If Uhuru and Ruto do not appear at their own trials, they will not be able to represent Kenya at international forums. Their travel will be restricted to countries that promise not to hand them over to the ICC.
They, in turn, may decide to follow the path of isolationism by breaking all international agreements that Kenya is signatory to. 6. If Ruto and Uhuru attend their trials, and even if they are found innocent, they will have to spend a considerable amount of their time at The Hague.
Kenya will suffer from an absentee leadership. Anarchy might ensue. Regional warlords may take advantage of the situation and break up the country into fiefdoms. Jealous neighbours may also use the leadership vacuum to gain economic and political supremacy in the region.
7. If found guilty, Uhuru and Ruto will face a Nixonian moment: resign or be impeached by the National Assembly,” says Tom Maliti of the ICC Kenya Monitor blog. “At the ICC level, the men will go into detention as the court searches for a country to hold them in prison for the duration of whatever sentence is handed down.”
Like most Kenyans, I wish we didn’t have to consider these scenarios. But we do, unfortunately, because we stand to lose everything we have worked for in the last 50 years if we make the wrong choices at the ballot box next year, and if we allow ethnic affiliation, rather than national interest, to determine our vote.
If we want impunity to end, maybe we should lock out everyone who was part of the current coalition government, and vote in a fresh, visionary, untainted candidate.
Uhuru -Ruto will win with a land slide..read the news man stop with this rating n stuff n like mutahi ngunyi said Raila will commit political suicide …hate the fact and pack your bags n go n live in Tanzania…Kenyans we hate the truth n facts so ask yourselves…What if they win, what will you all Anti TNA do?
RAO peaked in 07! Ever since he’s been running downhill fullspeed. How has he managed to antagonise the entire original Pentagon?
“His once nearly invincible Rift Valley support base of 2 mn voters has diminished to the extent he’d be lucky to get 10%; the 5 national regional bosses of his Orange Democratic Movement have left with their solid local vote banks bar 2;his right hand man Miguna Miguna,resigned in a huff last year and published a book filled with embarrassing detail that confirmed what informed Kenyans knew of the PM’s business dealings;the September by elections are seen by many as a precursor to a coming electoral disaster come voting day, March 2013.”
Uhuru-ruto
wasaliti buying wakenya with looted money from treasury /let kenya break like Yugoslavia Syria Sudan rather live being raped by force by Kikuyu primitive supremacists!
Over 40millions of patriotic kenyans will never sucumb to gema hegemony if war is the answer lets have it <war
liberated USA from british colonialisdts1 Israeli fought britain and today the jewish holy land is there for the whole world to see!
Kenyans should not fear kikuyu gegemony and their domination of primitive kenyan tribes like Masais7tugens and lumbwas. Let kenya burn and god see the flames from heaven KIkuyu cannot be allowed to enslave millions of people.
UHURU and RUTO are jail birds and they should be VOTED OUT – Martha KARUA
Narc-Kenya Chairperson Martha Karua has said Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto should be voted out, since they have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for graves crimes against humanity.
Karua was speaking on Tuesday when she took her campaigns to Kisumu, where she warned that electing the two would mean frequent disruption of the government operations whenever they are required to attend court sessions at the ICC.
Karua, who is also the Gichugu MP, urged Kenyans to do the suspects a “favour of not electing them”
“Electing the two would mean that the government will close its doors to wananchi each time they are called upon to attend court. The scenario looks even grimmer because it would be both the president and his deputy.
“I ask you to grant them leave to allow them offload the baggage they carry. Kenya is not going anywhere, it will still be here if they are cleared and will be free to vie,” Karua said
She also urged the Kenyan electorate to vote for her, saying she will ensure the country is free from corruption dogma affecting the country.
Clearly we have a major problem in our hands as we go into the general elections in a few weeks. The people who suffered the most in the troubles of 2008 were our Kikuyu brothers and sisters indeed as you read this tens of thousands of them are still in camps, refugees in their own country. What can be sadder than that?
Still any criticism you level against Uhuru Kenyatta today is seen as an attack on the Kikuyu community. Why??? When Jomo Kenyatta grabbed large tracts of land what was written on the title deeds? The Kikuyu community?? Nope. The name on the them is Kenyatta. Why then is it seen as an attack on the Kikuyu when we talk about the evil Kenyatta committed when he was in office?
We often talk about Moi’s 24 year misrule. I don’t see my Kalenjin friends coming out red with rage and telling me that I am attacking the Kalenjin community? Why then is it different with the Kikuyu?
The answer is simple. President Kibaki’s presidential campaign in 2007 is the kind of campaign that must never be allowed in our shores ever again. And it seems that we are yet to shake off its’ effects. Public meetings addressed in Kiswahili but campaign managers going round later and speaking to the people in vernacular and telling them that it is awar against the other community. By the time we went into the elections it was a Kikuyu versus the rest of Kenya election. Why???? Why when the Kikuyu have suffered more than any other community during Kibaki’s tenure? Why when we love our Kikuyu brothers and sisters and live peacefully on the ground with them and even marrying their beautiful lasses without any hassle? Why does it have to be different in politics?
In 1957 a Luo man called Tom Mboya beat a Kikuyu opponent called Munyua Waiyaki for the Nairobi area seat in the Legco. 95% of the voters were Kikuyus. Those days most locals were illiterate or with very poor educational backgrounds if any. Why then should we have a problem in 2013 when we have very educated Kenyans? Have we grown more stupid and tribal with more education?
We urgently need to find a way to ensure that any criticism against Uhuru Kenyatta is NOT seen as an attack on the Kikuyu community. He is an individual seeking high office and we need to interrogate him, we are not interrogating the community he happens to belong to.
Thursday, 07 February 2013 22:19
By The Citizen Reporters
Dodoma/Arusha.
Tanzania is willing to host an international court to try Kenyan politicians Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, who face charges of crimes against humanity in the 2008 post-election violence.
The two politicians and two others have been charged at the International Criminal Court (ICC) based at The Hague but there has been talk of shifting the cases to the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), whose mandate ends soon.
Attorney General Frederick Werema told The Citizen that Tanzania “would be honoured” to host the cases of the Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP Ruto, who are both running in next month’s General Election.They are jointly charged with the country’s former public service head Francis Muthaura and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang.
The suspects have denied charges of masterminding the violence that left 1,333 people dead. Hundreds of thousands others were displaced.A senior ICTR official told reporters in Arusha this week that the international court was prepared to handle cases of the four Kenyans but the UN and the Tanzanian government must give it the go-ahead.
Mr Danford Mpumilwa, ICTR public relations officer, said the court cannot handle the cases unless the UN and the government of Tanzania give it the green light. “The ICTR was established by the UN Security Council to prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda,” he said.
If the ICC wants the ICTR to prosecute Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, it must put a request to Tanzania and the UN to allow such cases to be tried by the ICTR.
ICTR has state-of-the-art facilities to manage such a trial but there are procedures to be followed that are best handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
But Attorney-General Werema said the Tanzanian government had not received formal requests, either from the suspects or from The Hague, to have the cases transferred to Arusha.
“We are aware that international law provides for shifting of cases such as those facing Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto and others from one international court to another, but it is The Hague that must initiate the process and not the suspects.”
Mr Ruto’s lawyers have reportedly applied to have the cases moved from The Hague to Arusha on the grounds that it would enable their client to fully participate in Kenya’s presidential campaigns as the country inches towards the March 4 General Election.
The ICC is believed to be willing to allow the ICTR to prosecute the two Kenyan politicians.
Mr Werema said The Hague was probably trying to establish whether the ICTR meets its basic conditions before it allows the move. Some of the things the ICC would be looking at include whether the ICTR is technically capable of handling the cases, the costs and whether there is enough security for both the suspects and the staff.
He added, however, that he believes the ICTR meets those conditions and “it will be a great honour for Tanzania to handle the cases. In fact, if I received the request from The Hague today I would expedite it and convince my colleagues to accept the request.”
Kenya: Uhuru, Ruto Plan to Seek ICC Extension
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 – 00:00 — BY STAR TEAM
DEPUTY Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto are considering a possible postponement of their trials at the ICC. Their trials are due to start on April 10 and 11, the very day scheduled for the second round run-off of the presidential election.
Their strategists are looking at ways of having the trials postponed for at least a year, especially if Uhuru wins the presidential election in the first round on March 4.
Ruto is Uhuru’s running-mate for deputy president on the Jubilee Coalition ticket. However lawyer Katwa Kigen denied that his clients Ruto and broadcaster Joshua arap Sang were involved in such discussions. “No such plans for Ruto and Sang,” said Kigen.
However insiders have indicated that if they win, Uhuru and Ruto would want to stabilise their government by creating structures that would allow them to run state affairs while resident in the Hague.
Uhuru and Ruto must appear in the Hague for the start of their trials on April 10 and 11, unless the Trial Chamber grants an adjournment which seems unlikely at this stage.
Uhuru recently told al Jazeera that he would attend the trial at the ICC but could run the government from the Hague if their Jubilee Coalition wins the election.
Insiders said that Uhuru and Ruto are likely to argue that they have not been given enough time to prepare for trial as ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has been seeking to only disclose some of her witnesses after the trial has started.
They may also adopt a strategy used by former Liberian leader Charles Taylor who postponed his trial for seven months by sacking his lawyers at the last minute .
On June 4, 2007, just before his trial started, Taylor wrote to the ICC judges complaining that he was being denied a fair trial and advising the court that he no longer wanted to be represented by his assigned lawyers.
However, according to sources close to the ICC cases, this would be the last option for Uhuru and Ruto who reportedly have asked their lawyers to see how they can argue for more time to prepare their cases.
There is concern within Jubilee circles that former Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura, Uhuru’s co-accused, and Sang, Ruto’s co-accused, might not support this strategy.
Muthaura in particular wants the trial to proceed as quickly as possible and has even limited the number of challenges that might delay the case.
Uhuru and Ruto are also said to be waiting for the outcome of two applications to the ICC to relocate the trials to Kenya or Tanzania. They believe that there would then be no need for a postponement as they could easily run the government while remaining in East Africa.
Their lawyers are still working on how to challenge the limited disclosure of evidence by the prosecutor so far, especially over witness identities.
Bensouda presented her list of witnesses to the judges on January 9 but will only make the list partially available to the defence on February 11.
The prosecutor will release all the names by March 13, four weeks before the trials begin. Bensouda told the trial chamber judges that she may still adjust her list of witnesses and seek to delay disclosure of some witnesses.
Uhuru and Ruto may argue that this would not give them enough time to prepare their defence as they need to investigate prosecution witnesses.
Their lawyers would argue that they cannot cross-examine witnesses when they have only just learned their identities and nature of their evidence. Once they start, the trials of Uhuru and Ruto are likely to continue for several years.
Bensouda has already told the court that she will need an estimated 826 hours to present her case against William Ruto and Sang and 572 hours to present evidence against Uhuru and Muthaura.
The court hours at the ICC run from 9.30am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 4pm, a total of five hours a day, or 25 hours a week. In addition, defence lawyers will probably take the same amount of time to present their own witnesses.
That will come to at least 2,800 hours in court, that will take 112 weeks to dispose of, not counting public holidays or delays caused by sickness or legal challenges.
ICC QUESTIONS FOR UHURU TO ANSWER KENYANS
MY FELLOW KENYANS:
On February 11th 2013, Uhuru will join Raila & all other Presidential Candidates for a TV debate which will be aired live on all TV channels. This is our grand opportunity to send questions to Uhuru during the Debate so he can tell us exactly how a Uhuru Government will cope with running the affairs of State while he and Ruto will be attending their ICC cases for the next five years:
Q1: Who will deliver the State Address at the opening of the New Parliament?
Q2: How will he make Government appointments while based at The Hague ? Will the Head of Civil Service be flying there all the time with confidential files on appointees?
Q3: How will the Cabinet brief President Uhuru and VP Ruto at The Hague? By emails? Are our State secrets safe from prying eyes ? Will there be weekly Cabinet meetings at The Hague?
Q4: What measure will be put in place to ensure the hotel rooms of President Uhuru and VP Ruto are safe from bugging?
Q5: How many Kenyan security men will be required to keep guard on Uhuru & Ruto a t The Hague?
Q6: Why should the Kenyan Taxpayer have to foot the bill for the President’s security detail in The Hague since Uhuru is not going to be there on trial as President but as an individual?
Q7: The ministers and PSes going to & fro The Hague will cost a lot of money. Why should this be charged to the taxpayer?
Q8: Where will Uhuru receive new Foreign Ambassadors accredited to Kenya ? Will he receive their credentials at The Hague?
Q9: Who will represent Kenya at international summits including AU ones?
Q10: Uhuru & Ruto will not be able to pay state and official visits to foreign countries. Wont this severely affect Kenya’s international diplomatic posture?
Q11: Who will preside on National Day Celebrations?
Q12: How will Uhuru cope in the event of a major emergency situation?
Q13: Uhuru will not be able to tour the eight regions of Kenya. Wont this create a disconnect between the Centre and the regions?
Q14: It is customary for the President to receive daily intelligence briefings from the head of the intelligence. This cannot be emailed to him. Nor is it safe for the head of the intelligence service to put top secret reports in his briefcase and fly to The Hague to hand to Uhuru.
Q15: Neither is it safe or acceptable for Uhuru to keep top state secrets in his hotel room. Or even at the Kenyan embassy.
If you have more ICC questions to add, send them. I a m emailing mine to the Presidential Debate organisers.
Mohamed Warsama
This is a very pertinent article especially under Section IV, on the possible implications of an Uhuru-Ruto presidency. The President and the Deputy President are obliged by the new Constitution to be present in the country during the formative stages of the new Government to coordinate the numerous branches of Government. For instance, the President should chair weekly Cabinet meetings to ensure that the executive wing runs efficiently. The Deputy President has executive powers and must oversee certain duties directly without delegating them, etc.
Given the above and much more, how will Uhuru and Ruto run the affairs of Kenya if they win the first round on March 4th and are sworn in on March 26th? They will be in The Hague within a few days to attend trials on April 10th and 11th respectively. The ICC Prosecutor Ms. Fatou Bensouda mentioned that the court’s calendar won’t change. The suspects have applied for a year’s delay before the trials begin, to enable them stabilize their government. It is estimated that the trials will run for at least two years and will demand five hours of physical presence in the court every weekday. Both Uhuru and Ruto believe that the ICC process will not hinder their leadership.
It will be interesting to read reactions from KSB commentators.
The people of great Rift Valley should Pity William Ruto Arap Somoe for allowing him to be molested and impregnated by uhuru Muigai Kenyatta hence He will be dumped by Uhuru and even asassinated Tom Mboya style.
Ruto must be the Most Useless (kalenjin) Laibon (Mchawi) to be duped& conned by Gema Cunning tribe.
Where are Kalenjins left with normal brain hence Kikuyu art of hyponoticing primitive wild Kales”!
Electing UHURU/ RUTO for PRESIDENCY is the WORST THING that could happen in Kenya
By Kibiwott Kurgat
The determination of the Jubilee Coalition to form the next government is an open invitation for Kenyan voters to begin to confront squarely the implications of a victory for Uhuru and Ruto, who face serious criminal charges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Contrary to the stance taken by the two candidates, Kenya simply cannot wish away the ICC cases or the likely impact on the country’s domestic performance and relations with the world.
Hours after the defiant pair’s open-top ride into State House, the diplomatic reverberations of the collective vote of no confidence in Kenya will shake the very foundations of our country.
The promise of a country that prides itself as one of the four economic pillars of Africa — the others being Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa — will wither before our very eyes.
The trillion-shilling plans to finance Africa’s largest infrastructure project to serve South Sudan and Ethiopia will likely run aground.
Which is why some in the Uhuru-Ruto camp have claimed that once in office, the Kenyan Constitution entitles the two to immunity from prosecution on the ICC cases while they remain in office.
This could not be further from the truth. As a signatory to the Rome Statute, Kenya will be under obligation to meet the terms of the ICC, which the accused are well aware of.
Any attempt at circumventing the law would drag the country the way Omar Al-Bashir has done to Sudan; a pariah state that exists perilously on the fringes of the international scene.
Under the diplomatic cloud that would follow, it is not difficult to fathom another attempt to prise Unep out of Nairobi.
It is well known that Germany, France and South Africa have previously been linked to offers to host this key agency, but Kenya has so far had the international goodwill on its side.
The very thought of this should worry many businesses anchored around the UN agency — including property owners — and its hundreds of local employees. Kenyans might not know this, but the UN establishment in Gigiri is one of Kenya’s main sources of foreign currency, perhaps as important as tea or coffee.
Voters have a right to know early enough that should Kenya confront the international community in the manner suggested by the coalition, it will suffer this and other economic and diplomatic consequences.
If the coalition has any plan to counter the economic disruptions that will follow, this has yet to be articulated.
What is clear is that the loss of Western goodwill would lead directly to cutbacks in international financing for important sectors such as infrastructure, health and currency stabilisation, leading to economic turmoil.
It is a situation reminiscent of a period Kenyans would like to forget in a hurry, the aftermath of the post-election violence in 2007 and 2008. Within months, the economic meltdown caused by lost production, slump in tourism and a halt in investment inflows reversed GDP growth into negative territory, a trend that Kenya is only now recovering from.
Reaching out to Tanzania and Burundi for diplomatic support, as the coalition leaders have done in recent weeks, would appear to suggest that they do not appreciate the sheer magnitude of Kenya’s predicament under an Uhuru-Ruto leadership.
Whether or not similar visits planned for Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda go ahead is neither here nor there. Voters are therefore called upon to balance the right of the ICC pair to run for office against the overriding interests of 40 million Kenyans.
Disastrous Economic Implications of An Uhuru – Ruto Presidency
Posted on October 30, 2012 by Acbnews International
Regardless of whether Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are innocent, and notwithstanding their support in their ethnic strongholds, we as a nation have to soberly and rationally consider what an Uhuru or Ruto presidency will mean for Kenya.
As Kofi Annan, the African Union envoy who mediated the 2008 peace deal, said recently, if an ICC suspect assumes the presidency in the next election, the consequences for Kenya could be disastrous politically and economically. Here’s why:
1. Kenya could be labelled a pariah state by the international community. This will mean that donors will withdraw their moral and financial support to Kenya. Donor-funded long- and medium-term plans and projects, such as Vision 2030, will be shelved. Poverty levels will rise. Economic growth rates will decline. Kenya will not attain middle income status by 2030.
2. Western nations may impose a trade embargo on Kenya. The African Union, which backed the peace process, may press upon its members to impose sanctions on Kenya. Kenya’s coveted membership in the East African Community might also be threatened.
Domestic revenues may see Kenya through, but without trading partners, revenue from exports will fall, leading to further hardships. Just ask the Cubans what the 50-year US trade embargo has done to their economy and you will see why this scenario is not desirable.
3. The United Nations may pull out of Kenya and set up base in a neighbouring country, thereby severely affecting the local economy. Revenue gained from UN conferences, contracts and projects will disappear. If the UN leaves, Kenya will lose millions of dollars that pass through the country’s banks. Nairobi’s housing and retail markets that cater for UN staff will collapse.
4. Like Zimbabweans under Robert Mugabe, Kenyans will start seeking refuge and jobs in neighbouring countries. Kenya will be viewed as a failed state like Somalia, generating the large numbers of refugees and IDPs.
Western countries will start to impose harsher travel restrictions on Kenyans. Middle and upper class Kenyans who can afford to travel and send their children abroad for further studies may be particularly affected.
5. If Uhuru and Ruto do not appear at their own trials, they will not be able to represent Kenya at international forums. Their travel will be restricted to countries that promise not to hand them over to the ICC.
They, in turn, may decide to follow the path of isolationism by breaking all international agreements that Kenya is signatory to. 6. If Ruto and Uhuru attend their trials, and even if they are found innocent, they will have to spend a considerable amount of their time at The Hague.
Kenya will suffer from an absentee leadership. Anarchy might ensue. Regional warlords may take advantage of the situation and break up the country into fiefdoms. Jealous neighbours may also use the leadership vacuum to gain economic and political supremacy in the region.
7. If found guilty, Uhuru and Ruto will face a Nixonian moment: resign or be impeached by the National Assembly,” says Tom Maliti of the ICC Kenya Monitor blog. “At the ICC level, the men will go into detention as the court searches for a country to hold them in prison for the duration of whatever sentence is handed down.”
Like most Kenyans, I wish we didn’t have to consider these scenarios. But we do, unfortunately, because we stand to lose everything we have worked for in the last 50 years if we make the wrong choices at the ballot box next year, and if we allow ethnic affiliation, rather than national interest, to determine our vote.
If we want impunity to end, maybe we should lock out everyone who was part of the current coalition government, and vote in a fresh, visionary, untainted candidate.
Uhuru -Ruto will win with a land slide..read the news man stop with this rating n stuff n like mutahi ngunyi said Raila will commit political suicide …hate the fact and pack your bags n go n live in Tanzania…Kenyans we hate the truth n facts so ask yourselves…What if they win, what will you all Anti TNA do?
RAO peaked in 07! Ever since he’s been running downhill fullspeed. How has he managed to antagonise the entire original Pentagon?
“His once nearly invincible Rift Valley support base of 2 mn voters has diminished to the extent he’d be lucky to get 10%; the 5 national regional bosses of his Orange Democratic Movement have left with their solid local vote banks bar 2;his right hand man Miguna Miguna,resigned in a huff last year and published a book filled with embarrassing detail that confirmed what informed Kenyans knew of the PM’s business dealings;the September by elections are seen by many as a precursor to a coming electoral disaster come voting day, March 2013.”
Tell me;how did this happen??
Uhuru-ruto
wasaliti buying wakenya with looted money from treasury /let kenya break like Yugoslavia Syria Sudan rather live being raped by force by Kikuyu primitive supremacists!
Over 40millions of patriotic kenyans will never sucumb to gema hegemony if war is the answer lets have it <war
liberated USA from british colonialisdts1 Israeli fought britain and today the jewish holy land is there for the whole world to see!
Kenyans should not fear kikuyu gegemony and their domination of primitive kenyan tribes like Masais7tugens and lumbwas. Let kenya burn and god see the flames from heaven KIkuyu cannot be allowed to enslave millions of people.
UHURU and RUTO are jail birds and they should be VOTED OUT – Martha KARUA
Narc-Kenya Chairperson Martha Karua has said Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto should be voted out, since they have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for graves crimes against humanity.
Karua was speaking on Tuesday when she took her campaigns to Kisumu, where she warned that electing the two would mean frequent disruption of the government operations whenever they are required to attend court sessions at the ICC.
Karua, who is also the Gichugu MP, urged Kenyans to do the suspects a “favour of not electing them”
“Electing the two would mean that the government will close its doors to wananchi each time they are called upon to attend court. The scenario looks even grimmer because it would be both the president and his deputy.
“I ask you to grant them leave to allow them offload the baggage they carry. Kenya is not going anywhere, it will still be here if they are cleared and will be free to vie,” Karua said
She also urged the Kenyan electorate to vote for her, saying she will ensure the country is free from corruption dogma affecting the country.
Clearly we have a major problem in our hands as we go into the general elections in a few weeks. The people who suffered the most in the troubles of 2008 were our Kikuyu brothers and sisters indeed as you read this tens of thousands of them are still in camps, refugees in their own country. What can be sadder than that?
Still any criticism you level against Uhuru Kenyatta today is seen as an attack on the Kikuyu community. Why??? When Jomo Kenyatta grabbed large tracts of land what was written on the title deeds? The Kikuyu community?? Nope. The name on the them is Kenyatta. Why then is it seen as an attack on the Kikuyu when we talk about the evil Kenyatta committed when he was in office?
We often talk about Moi’s 24 year misrule. I don’t see my Kalenjin friends coming out red with rage and telling me that I am attacking the Kalenjin community? Why then is it different with the Kikuyu?
The answer is simple. President Kibaki’s presidential campaign in 2007 is the kind of campaign that must never be allowed in our shores ever again. And it seems that we are yet to shake off its’ effects. Public meetings addressed in Kiswahili but campaign managers going round later and speaking to the people in vernacular and telling them that it is awar against the other community. By the time we went into the elections it was a Kikuyu versus the rest of Kenya election. Why???? Why when the Kikuyu have suffered more than any other community during Kibaki’s tenure? Why when we love our Kikuyu brothers and sisters and live peacefully on the ground with them and even marrying their beautiful lasses without any hassle? Why does it have to be different in politics?
In 1957 a Luo man called Tom Mboya beat a Kikuyu opponent called Munyua Waiyaki for the Nairobi area seat in the Legco. 95% of the voters were Kikuyus. Those days most locals were illiterate or with very poor educational backgrounds if any. Why then should we have a problem in 2013 when we have very educated Kenyans? Have we grown more stupid and tribal with more education?
We urgently need to find a way to ensure that any criticism against Uhuru Kenyatta is NOT seen as an attack on the Kikuyu community. He is an individual seeking high office and we need to interrogate him, we are not interrogating the community he happens to belong to.
Tanzania ready to host Uhuru and Ruto cases
Thursday, 07 February 2013 22:19
By The Citizen Reporters
Dodoma/Arusha.
Tanzania is willing to host an international court to try Kenyan politicians Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, who face charges of crimes against humanity in the 2008 post-election violence.
The two politicians and two others have been charged at the International Criminal Court (ICC) based at The Hague but there has been talk of shifting the cases to the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), whose mandate ends soon.
Attorney General Frederick Werema told The Citizen that Tanzania “would be honoured” to host the cases of the Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP Ruto, who are both running in next month’s General Election.They are jointly charged with the country’s former public service head Francis Muthaura and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang.
The suspects have denied charges of masterminding the violence that left 1,333 people dead. Hundreds of thousands others were displaced.A senior ICTR official told reporters in Arusha this week that the international court was prepared to handle cases of the four Kenyans but the UN and the Tanzanian government must give it the go-ahead.
Mr Danford Mpumilwa, ICTR public relations officer, said the court cannot handle the cases unless the UN and the government of Tanzania give it the green light. “The ICTR was established by the UN Security Council to prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda,” he said.
If the ICC wants the ICTR to prosecute Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, it must put a request to Tanzania and the UN to allow such cases to be tried by the ICTR.
ICTR has state-of-the-art facilities to manage such a trial but there are procedures to be followed that are best handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
But Attorney-General Werema said the Tanzanian government had not received formal requests, either from the suspects or from The Hague, to have the cases transferred to Arusha.
“We are aware that international law provides for shifting of cases such as those facing Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto and others from one international court to another, but it is The Hague that must initiate the process and not the suspects.”
Mr Ruto’s lawyers have reportedly applied to have the cases moved from The Hague to Arusha on the grounds that it would enable their client to fully participate in Kenya’s presidential campaigns as the country inches towards the March 4 General Election.
The ICC is believed to be willing to allow the ICTR to prosecute the two Kenyan politicians.
Mr Werema said The Hague was probably trying to establish whether the ICTR meets its basic conditions before it allows the move. Some of the things the ICC would be looking at include whether the ICTR is technically capable of handling the cases, the costs and whether there is enough security for both the suspects and the staff.
He added, however, that he believes the ICTR meets those conditions and “it will be a great honour for Tanzania to handle the cases. In fact, if I received the request from The Hague today I would expedite it and convince my colleagues to accept the request.”
uhuru n ruto tosha no matter wat the opponents says