Nairobi — Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Saturday declared he would surrender to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo builds a strong case linking him to the post-election violence. "I will not wait to be arrested. I will volunteer information," he said.
Speaking to the Sunday Nation, Mr Odinga also backed the decision by the ICC to appoint a three-judge bench to assess the Kenyan case. He said the government would fully cooperate with Mr Ocampo in his efforts to bring the post-election violence suspects to account.
"President Kibaki and I agreed that the prosecutor should proceed with his work and Kenya would cooperate." The Prime Minister said they could not make a formal referral of the Kenyan case to the ICC because they did not want Kenya to join the league of failed states. "We also didn't want to show that our judicial system had failed," he said.
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But the PM could not say if his party ODM would readily hand over any of its key members to the ICC if required. "We have not reached that hurdle yet," he said. He defended the government's record on reforms, accusing the media of failure to highlight any gains made.
Among the achievements, Mr Odinga cited disbandment of the Kivuitu-led Electoral Commission of Kenya, ongoing drafting of the new constitution, the Kazi kwa Vijana (jobs for youth) scheme and establishment of Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission as well as the boundaries review commission. He also pointed out part of the government's effort to reform the police force.
"Kenyans forget that we also had to wait for the Kriegler and Waki commissions to give us reports before we could start the process of enacting certain reforms," he said. However, Mr Odinga stressed the need for more reforms in the Judiciary and at the State Law Office.
On the mapping out of constituency boundaries, he said he believes that both population and geographical factors are important in the exercise. He said the performance of the State Law Office is an issue of major concern to him but defended the Attorney-General over allegations of failure.
"We cannot entirely blame the Attorney-General on the failures of his office. We have noted a systematic blame game between the AG's office, the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission and even the Judiciary. "On one hand, KACC says it is handicapped as it lacks prosecutorial powers. On the other, the AG says he has not got comprehensive evidence to sustain cases. That is why we are keen on total reforms in these institutions," the PM said.
On constitution review, the PM was optimistic that a consensus would be reached as the differences that led to the rejection of the draft law in 2005 "have really narrowed".
"We have set up a team from both sides of the coalition to harmonise our positions. We have a problem because some people have invented what they want to be seen as contentious issues. For instance, the kadhi courts were not contentious in 2005. We appeal to the stakeholders to avoid unnecessary antagonism so that we can a new constitution once and for all," he said.
Speaking in Kibera later on, he said the government would present a draft constitution for a referendum vote only after everyone has agreed with its contents. The PM said the government had resolved to avoid a constitutional referendum where Kenyans will be asked to vote to either approve or reject the new laws like it happened in 2005. "This time round we have agreed that we will not go to a referendum before agreeing, so that we all vote in one accord," he said.
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