Kenya Stockholm Blog

When news swept across Kenya that the perpetrators of the 2007 Post Election Violence (PEV) would be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC), millions of Kenyans got excited. Key suspects who were to face the Court were President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto. When the two were however released by the court due to “insufficient evidence”, dejection and a sense of resignation descended upon Kenyans who understood that the duo had effectively used State power to subvert justice at the ICC.

This was because the sole reason why the cases failed to stand at the ICC was because the two suspected criminals had succeeded in killing witnesses, intimidating them, harassing their families, bribing them or force them into exile. In some cases, witnesses simply disappeared after being kidnapped by suspected death squads under state command.

To add salt to injury, the suspects used the State machine to evade conviction, leaving thousands of helpless victims crying for justice. The 2007 PEV resulted in the murder of more than 1,500 Kenyans and the internal displacement of more than half a million others who became officially known as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

The pain in witnessing the suspected criminals released by the ICC exists because families of those who lost their lives at the hands of the murderers will never get revenge while the half a million IDPs who remain the sole surviving victims of the instigated violence are still languishing in filthy camps nine years after they were displaced.

In this video, Chairman Martin Ngatia expresses the disappointment of millions of Kenyans who had expected justice from ICC after evidence of “crimes against humanity” were presented to the Court together with hundreds of witnesses who were ready to testify. The collapse of the cases as a result of the suspected criminals using the state machine to destroy evidence is what (according to Chairman Ngatia) has resulted in the loss of confidence in the Court by Kenyans.

To regain its lost credibility, Ngatia argues that the ICC will have to start again by arresting the suspects and trying them afresh. If this cannot be done, then the view of KRA is that the ICC can as well go to hell.

This is a chilling message because Kenya is facing a new election next year and with the suspected criminals aware that ICC is toothless, they might not just be tempted to rig the election once again but also escalate the violence (to retain power) into a Genocide, knowing well that they will never be answerable as long as they can capture State power.

To avoid this kind of scenario, the view of KRA is that ICC must reclaim its credibility by rejuvenating the cases and bringing the suspects to justice in the interest of families of those who lost their loved ones and the half a million IDPs still languishing in squalid camps in Kenya. The KRA position is that unless Uhuru is made a one-term president, the IDPs will continue to remain in the camps for another five years.

It is a captivating video which every concerned Kenyan ought to watch because it captures the disappointment of millions of Kenyans over ICC failure, questions the very credibility of ICC while it also offers an alternative as to how ICC can regain its lost glory, at least on the eyes of Kenyans who believe that the Court has become useless.

Okoth Osewe