It seems only Africans make good "suspects" to parade for the ICC as the court gradually loses any semblance of credibility. Ntaganda, known as the "The Terminator" pleaded not guilty at the International Criminal Court on March 26th to charges of war crimes including rape, murder and the use of child soldiers during his time as a rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ironically, Ntanganda is in very unusual company of those indicted by the Hague-based ICC. They include Kenya’s President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy-elect William Ruto. But nothing illustrates Kenya’s contempt (at least the majority of voters) for ICC than the 6.1million Kenyans who decided to elect the same indictees into power.
If you are like me, and are holding your breath patiently waiting for suspects to be flown to the Hague from hot spots like Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Palestine and Israel, trust me. It could be a very long wait. However, if you hear of ICC suspects being indicted from Central African republic and Mali, please don’t pretend to be shocked.
Jendayi Frazer, the former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs put it aptly in an article she recently wrote about the ICC: "The ICC’s very legitimacy has been fundamentally compromised by its first Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, only finding cases of atrocities and crimes against humanity in Africa."
She argued: “At the same time, the West’s often quiet role but strong political influence on who the court targets for indictment tarnishes the court as a tool of geopolitical influence, not balanced global justice. A review of ICC cases also reveals that some African officials have instrumentally cooperated with the Prosecutor to indict their political opponents, further diminishing the impartiality of the Court.”
The assumption at least within CORD and the international community was that there was no way Kenyans in their right mind would vote for – as election loser Raila Odinga put it – criminals. But the majority of voters saw through the façade created by the international community that explicitly warned of consequences should the pair be elected.
My respect for the ICC diminished after I heard Miguna Miguna at a press conference recount how he had tried to get the attention of first Louis Moreno Ocampo and then Fatou Bensouda, the ICC chief prosecutor with burning new information about the Kenya ICC cases.
Miguna recounted his meeting with Bensouda in which she told him she was not interested in new evidence that would confirm the innocence of the current indictees. She was only interested in evidence that would “help her get a conviction for Uhuru and Ruto at all costs.”
When you add the drama unfolding in the Kenya cases were witness lied under oath, were promised cash gifts and relocation promises to testify on the strength of false evidence against the Kenyan suspects, you begin to shudder at what the ICC really stands for.
Even worse, despite flawed evidence, witnesses dropping out and confessing their evil deeds, the ICC plods along, limping ahead like the titanic and struggling to secure a conviction for suspects who by all accounts now appear innocent. The recent case of Francis Muthaura, now freed from the ICC shackles illustrates my point.
Here was a career civil servant whose impeccable public service and humility to serve the Government will only have one epitaph – ICC suspect. It just never goes away.
I feel sorry for so many people. The poor African souls being dragged to the Hague - the continents colonial home place - to be charged for despicable crimes that will take years to unravel for one. But I also feel sorry for the real victims of the post election violence that I mourn for to date.
The women raped and forced to bear children from violent encounters with men they never knew, the hundreds of children orphaned by PEV who will never understand why their parents were locked in a church in Kiambaa and burnt to death. And the hundreds of victims forced to flee their burnt houses to refugee camps simply because they voted in 2007.
Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto did not commit these acts. It’s a confirmed fact they were not there. But the victims know who burnt their houses and raped their wives. It was their neighbors who carried machetes and hacked their brothers and sisters. The irony? They still walk scot free.
They see their attackers everyday they have to deliver milk or shop at the local store. The scars are still there five years on. And they wonder why it has taken the Government half a decade to give them justice. Meanwhile, some court in Europe is working feverishly to drag suspects who “bear the greatest responsibility” . The only problem is, for the many victims in Eldoret, Rongai, or Kericho, the real suspects walk the streets everyday laughing at them.
By Sayila Liganga via mwakilishi.com
