Ethiopian Review

Nairobi — The Chief Mediator to Kenya after post-election violence Kofi Annan is finally getting the point. This is National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) verdict over the decision to hand over the Waki envelope to the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo.

On Thursday, Annan, who led the mediation talks that brought about the coalition government, presented Ocampo with the envelope containing names of masterminds of the post-election election violence. The dreaded envelope is said to contain names of senior politicians and leading businessmen. Prior to the development, NCCK had started collecting one million signatures from Kenyans to push the ICC to act quickly on the issue. By last week, the council had 540,000 signatures that have been passed to the ICC. NCCK Deputy General Secretary Oliver Kisaka said the council was happy with the action by the former UN Secretary General.

changed tack

“Annan is finally getting the point there was a time he was acting as though he was siding with the powers that be,” said Kisaka.

He said the council changed tack and started calling for The Hague option after MPs’ frustrated efforts to pass law to establish a local tribunal.

“The Hague is independent and can do things the local tribunal cannot do,” said Kisaka.

Last week, the NCCK Executive Committee converged at Jumuia Place in Lumuru where the reports containing the signatures were received.

After the meeting, NCCK Secretary General Peter Karanja and chairman Dr Charles Kibicho, in a joint statement, said only an international tribunal or court based on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which statute Kenya ratified on May 15, 2005, can legally and effectively prosecute and punish the perpetrators of the post-election violence.

However, NCCK is pushing for both the local tribunal and the ICC to try executors and the masterminds respectively.

The cleric warned the political class that Ocampo would move hastily once September deadline passes. He opined that Ocampo had agreed to meet the Government delegation last week to append their signatures to a commitment that he should move in if they fail to set up the tribunal.

Poor leadership

Kisaka said NCCK admitted it had erred in handling the situation in 2007. In February last year, the council said some clergy had contributed to the chaos that claimed 1,333 lives and displaced more than 500,000 people from their homes.

Since the admission, NCCK has come out to redeem its image. On several occasions, the clergy have taken on President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga accusing the duo of poor leadership.

The peak of the confrontation was when the council declared the presidency moribund and the premiership ineffective. The principals fired back, with Raila saying they (clergy) were part of the problem and Kibaki asking them to be part of the solution.

Kisaka recalls watching MPs having fun in Mombasa early last year when the country was burning.

“By then, the NCCK hade realised the magnitude of the problem and was shuttling between the two leaders and also trying to bring in mediators. You can recall that Bishop Desmond Tutu was the first to arrive,” he said.

At the height of the violence, Kisaka recalls that the three options that were being floated included a vote recount, maintenance of status quo or a re-run between Kibaki and Raila.

“In all these options the MPs were safe and would have retained their jobs and that is why they could afford to go on vacation in Mombasa,” he said.

It was until the council stated that even the MPs should go for fresh elections that they panicked and backtracked from their hard-line positions. Kisaka says once the council started calling for fresh elections, the MPs showed some sense of seriousness, which later faded out. This is what prompted them to begin collection of the one million signatures to force the ICC to immediately move in and deal with the perpetrators.

“With the signatures, we wanted the mood of the public and not just that of NCCK leaders known,” he said.

The council said all the offenders during the chaos must be held accountable so that people can learn.

“We want the politicians to know no one can kill Kenyans and get away with it. But above all, a credible electoral system,” said the deputy general secretary.

- By Kenfrey Kiberenge | The Standard