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| Map of Kenya |
Introduction
The world is not running out of
news. The Arabo-Islamic world continues on the road of implosion with the last
leg of its reconfiguration concentrating in Syria based on sustaining perpetual
conflict by any means. At least United States Vice President Joe Biden alluded
to it last week. He apologised but didn’t deny. On the other end of the
spectrum is biological weapon misinformation machine feeding battered
populations with threat of Ebola. I F Stone said something about governments
and truth.
Now it is Kenya’s turn to accept
the chalice of humiliation in the name of subscribing to international law and
stability. The President of the republic has assumed a part time role from
Nairobi to face International Criminal Court in The Hague, Europe. Our conclusion
is that Kenya and Africa in general will remain subjected to humiliation in the
current North Atlantic regime until its powers diminish.
Not Yet Uhuru
There is no suggestion that
injustice must go without investigation and unpunished. The election violence
in Kenya few years ago can be summarised as the colossal evidence of elite
ineptitude & impunity. It was long time coming from the political wreckage
automated by the former president ‘Prof’ Daniel arap Moi. The election genocide
is rather one of numerous examples of oppression of the commons sponsored
directly/indirectly by Kenyan elite/state. The complex and dynamic situation
that followed Moi’s exit opened a Pandora in the Kenyan political space with an
elite lacking in strategic initiative and clear vision.
With most of the
population suffering from economic persecution and political oppression under
Moi, which continued under Mwai Kibaki, the elite obsession with power by any means
necessary blinded the them from the ticking time bomb that majority will survive
by any means necessary. A few shillings here and there make huge difference in
empty pockets, but laced with misinformation violence can be unleashed at a
touch by the angry poor minds on behalf of their seasonal political grandee.
Later they called the outcome ethnic violence rather than elite induced
genocide!
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| Kenya in the ICC Dock |
Parade of Harambee Stars
Sections of Kenyan elite who are alleged to
have participated and encouraged the genocide initially created an aura of
dependability and untouchability since they run the levers of the state. In the ignorance usually associated with
elite, they had every side covered. These elite including the
current-former-temporary president, Uhuru Kenyatta refused to countenance
allowing domestic courts to even entertain a modicum of legal redress. By so
doing they forgot that Nairobi is a very small player in the region.
By playing
hardball and inflexibility, they condemned themselves to repeating ignorance of
history. Now another African elected leader is in the dock in Europe,
reminiscence of holocaust slave trade where human beings are put on show for
Northern buyers and investors. Now Kenya and Kenyans have become chattels in
the geopolitical neoliberal market place. Sadly Uhuru Kenyatta’s father Jomo
Kenyatta, the first president after fighting for independence may not be facing
Mouth Kenya again.
Losers Court of Humiliation
International Criminal Court
(ICC) was set up by United States to keep Global South in check. Of course the
chattering classes even Africa intelligentsia will maximise the merits. In the
geopolitical scheme of things, ICC has become a new legal machination to
sustain legalo-judicial colonialism of Africa. How many world leaders have been
subjected to the travesty of the courts impunity? Apart from President Slobodan
Milosevic of former Yugoslavia, the roll call is an all-African affair.
President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote
D’Ivorie, President Charles Taylor of Liberia, Vice President Jean Bemba of Democratic
Republic of Congo to name a few prominent Africans. ICC has come to represent a
failure of Africa internal judicial and legal institutions which the elite
dismiss as ineffective and inefficient, ignorant of the potential for their
ending up on the wrong side of their recommendation. Maybe their perception is
related to that of mangled health system which they abandoned for expensive flights
to the northern hospitals where they can be treated and released post-treatment.
Forget about Sovereignty
Stupid
No other European, Americas,
Asia, even Middle East leader has been or will be placed in ICC dock. They are
far ‘advanced’ and ‘superior’ to be exposed to such shenanigan. It is a settled
matter. It also testified to very weak credentials of Nairobi in the
geopolitical calculus as US client state. For all the huffing and puffing,
Nairobi is lightweight material compared to her co-regional capitals like
Kampala and Kigali despite mounting evidence of their contributions to the
genocide of millions in DRC.
There are numerous documents and
United Nations reports assigning culpability of both capitals for the
devastation, waste, destruction and murder in DR Congo. However they possess higher
geopolitical capital as they are rewarded with ‘bastions of stability in the
region’ awards by Washington DC. Kenya is a weak & humiliated republic,
Kenyans are a humiliated nation and this humiliation has long term consequences
no matter how great the GDP rises. Kenya is mortally wounded and her full
recovery and the duration is a matter of speculation. Her reputation and brand
are in tatters. Kenya is damaged brand in her neighbourhood and across the world.
Hope of Exit and Restitution
The main lesson for Kenya’s
peoples including the elite from the humiliation if received positive will
consist of a complex and dynamic framework of nation-building worldview. The
old structure with western imprimatur has failed Kenya in a spectacular
fashion. The question is no longer whether strategic documents exist, rather
whether there is a political belief in the supremacy & dignity of Kenyan
state for citizens. A state where her institutions including the legal system
are fully deployed to fully address issues, problems and crimes committed
within her territory.
A new mind-set that accepts the
sunset of geopolitical configuration of the world known for the past 60 years
will be welcome. An acceptance that the sun is gradually setting on the West
must be acknowledged, integrated and reengineered if Kenya is to move forward
with vigour, substance, dignity and respect in the comity of nations. Not
within ‘the international community’! Realistic reappraisal of internal affair,
foreign and diplomatic relations at all levels is inevitable if Kenya is to
assume her true position in the emerging geopolitical framework where Global
South will surely inherit enhanced status and contribute significantly in
realigning new international structures.
Conclusion
Until Kenya and Kenyans accept
the rejection of their humiliation, one is forced conclude that it is not yet
Uhuru (freedom).
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