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• January 29, 2009
• The Hague Beckons: 10th Parliament Springs Nasty Surprise

  Posted: January 29th, 2009, 9:03pm EST

  It is sad reading through the comments in this blog daily where well-educated Kenyans are still thinking in terms of PNU and ODM (and the gods they worship, namely Kibaki and Raila) when the vast majority of Kenyans have already moved on. More so when it looks like even most legislators have moved away from those tribal groupings as was seen yesterday in parliament. The 10th parliament sprung a stunning surprise that left many puzzled and those who understood the implications dumbfounded.
  
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  Despite the fact that President Kibaki spent a lot of time on Wednesday with the MPs lobbying for the bill to enact a special tribunal to try post election perpetrators locally, his efforts and those of Prime Minister Raila Odinga did not bear fruit. Interestingly MPs say that this was their way of replying to the president's "slap in their face" of re-appointing former Finance Minister Amos Kimunya to the cabinet despite the fact that issues surrounding his resignation are yet to be resolved.
  
  In a smart move legislators used a simple technicality to block all efforts to fast-track the bill meaning that the country will miss today's deadline. Which means that the case is headed to the Hague (Read the full story here).
  
  Of great interest are the new political re-alignments that are now emerging and more interestingly the motivation behind them. Despite being the person who moved the bill, Justice Minister Martha Karua obviously has a lot to gain if Uhuru Kenyatta is charged at the Hague and maybe convicted. It was difficult to miss the smirk on her face when Legislator Gitobu Imanyara blocked her bid to fast-track the bill through parliament. Everybody knows that Martha is a fighter and ordinarily would have at least protested. She did not even whimper.
  
  Many other legislators who had nothing to do with the post-election troubles have a lot to gain by blocking the bill and causing all the suspects to end up at the Hague. It will obviously eliminate a lot of the competition for their grand ambitions.
  
  I doubt whether most of the political class conecerned slept well last night. You see the game plan was to have a local tribunal and then intimidate all the witnesses from coming to give evidence (already a number of key Waki witnesses have received death threats). Now it seems that the Hague beckons for sure.
  
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  Chief mediator Kofi Annan can of course save the situation by extending the deadline. However if he does so it will look like he is favouring the powerful political class and reducing the chances of ordinary Kenyans ever getting real justice on this rather painful issue. And to make matters worse the bill tabled in parliament had been "doctored" by some of the chief suspects themselves to favour themselves especially those who are cabinet ministers. So Mr Annan will be greatly endangering his image and reputation by lifting a finger to interefere with the natural course of justice that has already been set in motion. But lets wait and see what happens.
  
  The other point that Kenyans should note is that their government moves at the pace of a snail (maybe slower), even when it is to save themselves. Why did it take so long to bring this bill to parliament? I mean the idea was to pass it yesterday when the deadline is today. Surely if somebody is so slow when saving themselves from a fire, how fast can you expect them to be when dealing with the problems of the country? Little wonder that Kenya is in such a mess. The whole lot PNU, ODM, Raila, Kibaki must go home NOW. We need fresh elections NOW!!