Jubilee schemes to rescue Ruto from ICC, secure Rift Valley

Members of parliament and other elected leaders during the ICC prayers for deputy president William Ruto and Journalist Joshua Sang at Kabartojo primary school in Baringo county on 04/10/2015,the lawmakers vowed to support the duo during the trial at Hague. (PHOTO: BONIFACE THUKU/ STANDARD)

Jubilee lawmakers have hatched a new plot to rescue Deputy President William Ruto from the crimes against humanity charges he is facing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The plot is being rolled out through international lobbying, political pressure and a search for divine intervention.

The lawmakers are drafting a petition to the United Nations (UN) and the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) to push for independent investigations into sensational claims of witness-coaching and evidence-fixing. These two issues have been the main message in the now popular prayer rallies.

But the Opposition wants President Uhuru Kenyatta to ban the prayer rallies, arguing that they are “a waste of time and public resources” and that they (the rallies) “are polarising the country and stocking ethnic tensions”.

In their response, Jubilee leaders have maintained that as long as the ICC keeps pursuing Ruto, the prayers will continue. David Pkosing’ (Pokot South) will be seeking signatures from “at least 100 MPs” to petition the UN and the ASP to hear the Jubilee position that the Ruto-Sang case be thrown out on the basis of “cooked evidence”.

Ulterior motives

“Even as we pray, we have to act... that petition is the action. It is time to do the right thing. If the UN and the ASP ignores what we are saying on procurement of witnesses, it will be very clear that there were ulterior motives... You can’t say Ruto and Sang’ caused all that chaos in Mombasa, Kisumu, Naivasha... ,” Pkosing told The Standard on Sunday.

The MP’s initiative ties up with the plan by the chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Samuel Chepkonga to open investigations into how the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence (popularly known as the Waki Commission) did its work. It is this commission that compiled a list of suspects believed to bear the greatest responsibility for PEV and handed the list to then ICC Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo.

“When we are done with our work, it will be a resolution of the Parliament of Kenya... you cannot ignore such a resolution,” said Chepkonga.

The goal is to influence the opinion of the ASP and the UN to believe that the cases against Ruto and Sang’ should be dropped because “the two were fixed”.

While the Jubilee MPs want to keep going around the country drumming up support for their anti-ICC rhetoric, their Opposition colleagues are wary, not only because of the perceived rise in ethnic tensions, but also a deepening division based on political persuasion.

MPs allied to CORD see the revival of the prayer rallies as an attempt by Jubilee to whip up ethnic emotions and use the prayers as the Launchpad for electoral campaigns ahead of the 2017 polls. But Jubilee MPs insist the prayers are only meant to foster national reconciliation and seek divine intervention in the case against Ruto.

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale and Senate Deputy Majority Leader Charles Keter have dismissed claims by CORD that the rallies are dividing the country and inciting communities.

“These prayers are meant to achieve three major objectives; seek divine intervention for the case facing our Deputy President and Joshua Sang, seek national reconciliation and pray for the unity of the country,” said Duale. “If they tell us to stop the prayers, we are wondering where they want us to seek divine help for this country. Are they telling us to try witchcraft?”

Duale insisted that they would not stop the prayers, saying they believe it is important for them to pray for Ruto and for justice to be done.

“If we feel that the prayers are our weapon, the Opposition should allow us to go on. Why would anyone feel threatened that we have agreed on congregating to pray?” argued the Majority Leader.

Senator Keter maintained that The Hague-based court is not genuine in prosecuting the cases against Ruto and Sang’, arguing that it is only in the Kenyan cases where the Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has insisted on using recanted statements and force witnesses to testify.

He regretted that the entire Kalenjin community has been condemned; after the prosecution alleged that it planned and raised funds to cause chaos.

“The violence was experience countrywide, did the Kalenjin organise violence all over? Many people died from gun shots. We have held the prayers in Rift Valley and Mt Kenya region. This weekend we are in Meru and next week we will be in Narok,” said Keter.

Ill intentions

But Senator Boni Khalwale (Kakamega), Opiyo Wandayi (Ugunja MP) and Christine Ombaka (Siaya County) have downplayed the impact of the prayer rallies, terming them “an exercise in futility”.

“These prayer rallies have ill intentions. It is also a diversionary tactic from the governance challenges facing this nation. Worse still, public funds are being used to mobilise MPs to attend the rallies. The prayer rallies should be stopped completely because they are polarising this country,” said Wandayi.

Dr Ombaka cautioned Jubilee against trying to manipulate the court through prayer rallies, saying the ICC would not be influenced by local politics.

“Jubilee should know it can’t decide the fate of ICC through rallies, it is a waste of time,” she said. Dr Khalwale told off the Jubilee leaders over the so-called prayer rallies and their attempts to drag former Prime Minister Raila Odinga into the cases against the DP.

“Jubilee should stop fooling Kenyans by playing victim politics. They cannot convince anybody with these latest revelations on who fixed Ruto. The DP was a strong ally of Raila and he would not have planned to fix him,” said Khalwale.

However, Keter affirmed that the prayers have also attracted leaders from New Ford Kenya and ODM because they believe Ruto and Sang’ are innocent.

“ICC should think twice what it wants to do. The people are unhappy because these leaders landed at The Hague as a result of a political contest. As a community, we cannot be quiet. It is unreasonable that no witness has mentioned Ruto directly yet the case is still being sustained.”

Senate Majority Whip Beatrice Elachi (nominated) acknowledged that though some of the prayer meetings get emotional, it has provided a platform for leaders to reveal their role in the ICC cases.

She disclosed that the objective of the rallies is to pile pressure on the ICC on the Kenyan cases.

“It is sad the international community and European Union want the cases to proceed despite knowing there is no case,” she claimed.