How Ruto, Uhuru hope to delay ICC

 

          William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta plan to run for president by either precipitating postponement of The Hague trials until elections are held or putting off polls until their trials are over.The Eldoret North MP and Deputy Prime Minister hope to achieve this either by piling pressure on The Hague to delay the trials through collection of five million signatures.

         Uhuru unveiled his strategy during last month's controversial meeting in Limuru, where his supporters mooted plans to collect two million signatures to demonstrate to the International Criminal Court it would be dangerous for the country to go for elections without him and Ruto in the race.
        Ruto upped the game on Tuesday when his supporters, meeting under the umbrella of Kamatusa, an acronym for Kalenjin, Masai, Turkana and Samburu communities, announced plans to compel the Government to apply to the United Nations (UN) security Council under Article 16 of the Rome Statute to defer the cases until after elections.
      They also agreed to collect three million signatures countrywide for the purposes of the petition, which will run side by side with Uhuru's that is directed at ICC.
     The Kamatusa group, that also endorsed Ruto as their undisputed leader, also decided that if the UN option fails, Members of Parliament should use their powers to postpone the elections "until such a time when there shall be a conducive environment where competitive politics can be practiced fairly and peacefully".
     The problem, however, is, there is no telling how long the trials would take, and so it remains unclear how their supporters who went public on Tuesday on the strategy, plan to craft amendment delaying elections.
Still, it is not even clear how they plot to deal with the controversial fact that this could come along with an extension of President Kibaki's term in office and probably even a longer life for the Tenth Parliament to forestall a vacuum in the governance structure.
    But in case they are ignored, Kalenjin community elders announced they would prevail upon athletes from their community to boycott this year's London Olympics.
"The community will announce a date when all people of Kenya who value justice and fairness will go to polling stations to append their signatures," said Kalenjin Council of Elders Chairman Major (Rtd) John Seii at the meeting in Eldoret.
   Despite the obvious logistical challenges, Seii also announced they would mobilise five million members of the Kalenjin community to travel to The Hague to take part in the cases.
   The meeting also declared Rift Valley a United Republican Party zone and gave Ruto a free hand to pick and work with political alliances he considers key to the community's interest.
   In what appeared choreographed message to the country and the world, as Ruto's supporters spoke in Eldoret, the Gema group met in Nairobi to strategise on how to collect two million signatures to demonstrate it would not be in the interest of Kenyans, their peace, and democracy to hold elections in which the two would not be running.

                                                                                             East African Standards