Business Daily (Nairobi)
21 April 2008
editorial
One can only hope that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will indeed make follow up of the killings that occurred in Kenya after the disputed December elections and get the culprits and put them to book.
The reason for the mayhem we witnessed in December and into the new year in Kenya is because many of our politicians believe they are above the law and will not be held accountable for their misdeeds.
The time to break that culture of impunity is now and Kenya offers a solid ground.
The security apparatus also needs to be questioned for using news reports to arrest and charge a suspect based on an interview he gave a foreign station.
It makes us wonder if our security forces do any investigative work at all.
Back to the ICC, it is a good sign that someone is watching and threatening to put to task those that were responsible for the barbarities we experienced here in Kenya.
By virtue of Kenya being a member of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the ICC, has the power to instigate investigations into the post election atrocities committed here.
Kenya cannot afford to have violence erupt after every election and the culprits walk with away with political victory.
Since many in our political class will quickly run into their cocoons and falsely claim that their ethnic communities are being targeted, an investigation, and possible indictment from an international body such as the ICC, where matters of tribe are alien, would be a good thing for weeding out the miscreants in our body politic.
That was the aim of ICC and we should flag them as we seek to unearth the genesis of our troubles.
Clearly, with all the undertones of discontent with our Judiciary, such a move from the ICC should not only be appreciated but should also be encouraged.
While unfortunately for the first time in our history, Kenya is under the spotlight for crimes that fall within the international ambit, it is also a welcome move since it will make all tyrants everywhere be careful as someone is watching.
Hopefully, in our future elections, we shall not have the menace we witnessed last time as the pay masters of the mayhem will be more alive to the fact that they shall not escape impunity so casually.
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