Nothing exemplifies a failed state better than a fractious cabinet. Here we have one theoretical cabinet with three camps of preferences: The Hague, local tribunal with powers to try anyone (read no sacred cows/immunity) and the latest kid on the block TJRC. It couldn’t get any spicier.
Impunity begets nothing but more impunity. We sowed it and must reap the bloody fruits. The three options clearly indicate the variants of selfish interest each group prefers with the intention of fixing perceived and real political opponents. The NOBODY-MOVES-NOBODY-GETS-HURT mentality is a selfishly smart scheme with all eyes singularly trained on magical 2012. Power to the moneyed.
Going in circles only succeed in making you dizzy. So now we are back to where Annan left us by declaring that the government is committed to undertaking ACCELERATED and far-reaching reforms as spelt out in Agenda Four. Play another original tune please!
The present costly pretence amounts to motions with no intention to cause any movement. We can as well enjoy the beauty of every floor on our way down from the top oblivious of the hard pavement (read 2012) waiting to crack our collective skull. Make no mistake January 2013 will be bloody and messy.
Only scoundrels seek complicated solutions to simple problems. The creators of 2007 mess wont own up neither will they give up. They had a mission they have to accomplish and no amount of pressure or blood will make them halt. And they have cleverly roped us in when we now join them in discussing the effects with no mention of the CAUSE.
Impunity-immunity tango dance
Living a national lie may never kill but the cost is incalculable. Give it to President Kibaki in leading from the front when he reprimands nosy journalist by shamelessly declaring that nobody has abandon the pursuit of local tribunal because that imagining was never created in the first place.
The standards of ICC are very clear. The present circular games will no wash. Whether we go local tribunal or Hague, the bar is raised and seekers of immunity and power of clemency have no place to hide. The guilty are afraid and who is scared to being stripped of immunity?
Mutula promised one Moreno Ocampo that Kenya will set up a credible judicial mechanism. What is more, the High Court option peddled by the cabinet is outside Waki’s recommendations of the Waki Commission. Both ways the noose is tightening and the dithering only succeeds in massaging egos.
Once you lose the moral authority, you never regain with fiat or bravado. The cabinet is rudderless and they know it. The fractious bunch are only fooling themsleves in attempt to circumvent an equally hostile parliament.
In the meantime the clock is ticking fast and furiously to 2012. Ole wetu, NA BADO.
