Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
6 July 2009
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3. Petition to the International Criminal Court
Since 1963, the people of Kenya have suffered gross violations of their rights and fundamental freedoms by influential persons and state organs. These abuses have continued unabated because of the failure by the government to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of these crimes. As a result, a culture of impunity has taken root in the country and threatens to plunge us into a dark era of lawlessness and death. A just, sustainable and prosperous Kenya is only possible when all people are
4 Treated equal before the law and every crime is punished to the full extent.
For this to come to be, impunity must be dealt with conclusively and decisively. We believe that investigation, prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators of the 2008 Post Election Violence will be the first step in eradicating impunity. Appreciating this, the Commission to Investigate the Post Election Violence (CIPEV - also referred to as Waki Commission) recommended that a special tribunal be formed to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators. Subsequent to this recommendation, the government through Legal Notice No. 66 gave the commencement date of the International Crimes Act 2008 as 1st January 2009. We believe that this was an intentional provision by the political class to sabotage the Special Tribunal for Kenya if and when it is established. This is because the provision gives the suspects an escape route when they invoke related legal provisions which include:
a. Section 77(4) of the Kenya Constitution which stipulates that a person cannot be held guilty of an act if the act or omission did not constitute an offense at the time it was committed
b. Since the commencement of International Crimes Act 2008 was 1st January 2009, crimes committed before then cannot be tried under that law
c. After the law establishing the tribunal is enacted, it will still be limited from trying persons for crimes committed before the tribunal came into being
4. The Hague Option In this regard, the NCCK is convinced that only an international tribunal or court based on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which statute Kenya ratified on 15th May 2005, can legally and effectively prosecute and punish the perpetrators of the Post Election Violence. For this reason, the Council on 18th March 2009 launched a campaign to collect at least a million signatures to lodge a petition that the International Criminal Court immediately commences investigations and prosecutes the perpetrators of the post election violence. Today, we have here dedicated both the petition and signatures received from Kenyans, and set in motion the process of their presentation at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands.
5. Conclusion
Kenya remains a nation in God's hands despite the challenges we are facing. We trust that God will fulfill the promise of restoring our nation to a state of prosperity. We have therefore taken the above noted actions that are required on our part and that of all Kenyans as a national duty. Above all, we remind all Kenyans to rise above the ethnic and other vested interests so as to uphold the dignity of the lives of all Kenyans and protect them from political and other expediencies of the nation's detractors. Let us all remember that a nation faces destruction once the rule of law is disregarded or subordinated to any other interests.
May God bless Kenya.
Signed
On 2nd day of July 2009 at Jumuia Conference and Country Home, Limuru.
Rev Dr Charles Kibicho, Chairman
Rev Canon Peter Karanja, General Secretary
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