The Coalition for reforms and democracy (CORD) today unanimously rejected governments attempts to withdraw from the Rome Statute terming the move ‘capricious and ill considered’. The coalition led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula reminded Kenyans that it was members of the Jubilee Alliance who pushed so hard for the cases to be tried at the Hague, and thwarted all efforts to form a local tribunal here at in Kenya. CORD refuted claims that the ICC cases were political, saying such conclusions are products of the continued Jubilee fear-mongering meant to defeat the cause of justice. “Collective amnesia has however been generated through falsehoods and propaganda to hoodwink the nation that the current cases in the Hague were triggered and propelled by way of a political stratagem and purpose calculated to advance the partisan course of a specific group.” The coalition further said its leaders tried at every turn to bring the cases home but insurmountable roadblocks were erected by the Jubilee Alliance members who pushed for the Hague route. “Prime Minister Raila Odinga with President Mwai Kibaki tried in vain to have a local judicial mechanism established by legislation but members of the 10th Parliament, most of them in the Jubilee camp frustrated the efforts,” noted the statement released by ODM party Deputy Director of Communications Maseme Machuka. The coalition further said before he left the government, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka undertook an extensive shuttle diplomacy to stop or suspend the trial of Kenyans at the International Criminal Court, again without success. “The narrative of our politics must qualitatively change in order to create an enabling environment for reform and progress. Kenya is not on trial and the people of Kenya are not at the stakes,” said the coalition.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 14:27:09 +0000
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