Jubilee to celebrate collapse of ICC cases

Justice for post-election violence victims and national healing and reconciliation are the themes likely to dominate talk at two major rallies by Jubilee and Cord on Saturday.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto will lead the Jubilee troops at Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium while opposition leader Raila Odinga will be in Nairobi’s Kibera.

The Jubilee group will be celebrating the collapse of the crimes against humanity case against Mr Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang.

But, observers also say it will be the beginning in earnest of their re-election campaign for the 2017 elections.

On Friday, Mr Odinga, in a statement from Paris where he is visiting, called for the formation of what he called “baraza” courts in the areas hit by the violence to help bring about reconciliation and healing.

Without justice for the victims of the 2007 election violence, he said, those at the Nakuru rally will be “dancing on the graves of the dead”.

“Uhuru and Ruto must cease this continued mockery of the victims of the post-election violence and lead this nation towards the truth and reconciliation that will save us from what is quickly becoming an irreversible descent towards another orgy of violence,” Mr Odinga said in a statement sent to newsrooms.

And Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki hinted at the formation of a truth and reconciliation commission to put an end to the cyclic violence. “We shall not be in Nakuru merely to celebrate the defeat of ICC, but to restate our values.”

“In the coming days we shall be sitting down and crafting a national healing and reconciliation programme. We need to find out the truth using local methods, but with a leader of the stature of Desmond Tutu,” he said, referring to the South African icon who led peace efforts after the collapse of apartheid.

At Afraha Stadium, the President and his deputy will be returning to the launch pad of their campaign machine in 2013 in what their strategists say will mark the beginning of rallies to mobilise their supporters ahead of next year’s elections.

They are in Nakuru, the epicentre of the 2007 election violence for a victory rally following the end of the ICC case against Mr Ruto and Mr Sang, the last of the initial six Kenyans, that included Mr Kenyatta, who were accused of masterminding the mayhem in which at least 1,133 people died and over 650,000 others were displaced.

Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, who were on the opposing sides of the 2007 election, closed ranks after they were named suspects by the Hague-based court and built a formidable campaign juggernaut which swept them to victory.

The other three were former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, former Commissioner of Police Hussein Ali, and former ODM Chairman Henry Kosgey.

SURVIVORS' PETITION

President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto’s need to unite is made all the more urgent by the open-ended manner in which their cases collapsed — with a leeway for the prosecutor to bring them back in future.

The two will use the euphoria of their victory at the ICC to build support, which they hope will wipe out the winter of discontent among some of their supporters who say rising corruption and failure to implement some of the campaign pledges had dented Jubilee’s first term.

On Thursday, US Ambassador Robert Godec warned that the “specter of corruption” was haunting Kenya, undermining its security, prosperity, and democracy. (see article on page 11)

There has also been pressure on President to restore the confidence of Kenyans in the electoral body. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is presently embroiled in an unprecedented crisis of confidence and experts warn there is need to fix it to nip in the bud any possibility of widespread dissatisfaction with the poll outcome particulary if the opposition loses.

The victory rally also comes against a backdrop of a constitutional petition before the High Court, brought by eight survivors of sexual and gender post-election violence who were gang raped or forcibly circumcised.

On Wednesday, the survivors asked for reparations including medical and psychological treatment, legal and social services, and compensation.

They called for the reform of the responsible institutions and change in policies “so that no one else undergoes the suffering we have endured ever again”.

They said since last year’s State of the Nation address in which President Kenyatta pledged to establish a Sh10 billion restorative justice fund nothing had come of it.

The ICC Trial Chamber V ended the case against Mr Ruto and Mr Sanga with the court’s presiding judge, Chile Eboe-Osuji, declaring the proceedings a mistrial due to a “troubling incidence of witness interference and intolerable political meddling”. Justice Osuji also argued that Kenya had also failed to address the chaos that occurred during elections since 1992.

After the December 2, 2012 rally at Afraha Stadium in which Jubilee unveiled their candidate and the running mate, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto held a series of prayer rallies in which they whipped up nationalistic sentiments and fears of being locked up to suffer in foreign prisons.

Central Kenya Parliamentary Group Chairman Dennis Waweru said the region’s residents will troop to Nakuru to show solidarity and express their gratitude for the collapse of the cases.

Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau said the journey for the re-election of Jubilee in 2017 had started in earnest. “There is nothing to stop us. Our focus will now be to deliver key development projects which are ongoing. The opposition will find it rougher this time round,” said Mr Kamau.

Nominated Senator Beatrice Elachi (TNA) told the Saturday Nation that the coalition was genuine on reconciling all Kenyans.

But former Subukia MP Koigi wa Wamwere said Jubilee was using the rally selfishly to launch how they can cling to power rather than how they can genuinely unite Kenyans.”

Yesterday, political leaders in Nakuru called for calm among their supporters ahead of the prayer ceremony.

Governor Kinuthia Mbugua urged the leaders told their supporters to restrain themselves from insults, heckling and booing.

The chairman of Nakuru County Luo Council of Elders Mr Richard Obuya said the timing and the venue of the ceremony should be respected as Nakuru was an epicenter of the violence.

Reported by Patrick Lang’at, Francis Mureithi and Billy Muiruri