Monday, October 20, 2014 -BY FELIX OLICK
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HOME: President Uhuru Kenyatta is escorted after inspecting a guard of
honour mounted by the Kenya defense force at the JKIA upon his arrival
from the Hague. Photo/HEZRON NJOROGE
A fresh attempt to refer the ICC cases against President Uhuru
Kenyatta, his Deputy William Ruto and former radio presenter Joshua arap
Sang back to Kenya has been made.
While Ruto and Sang are on trial, the ICC is due to decide the fate of the President's trial in a matter of weeks after prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she has insufficient evidence.
Through a petition to Parliament, a little-known political entity, the Republic Liberty Party, wants all the Kenyan ICC cases terminated and a local tribunal established to prosecute perpetrators of the 2007/08 post-poll violence.
The Bill, which has been received by the Clerk of the National Assembly, comes only days after Kenyatta appeared in court at The Hague for a status conference on his case.
The Bill states that where criminal proceedings related to the violence that left more than 1,500 people dead are pending before any court, the tribunal shall ask the court to defer the matter to its competence.
“Where the Tribunal makes such a request, the proceedings in the Court shall be terminated forthwith,” the Bill states.
The ICC has previously said it is impossible to refer back any ongoing cases. Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has also said that the more than 4,500 cases that had been investigated by Kenyan police have no evidence.
In 2009, Kenyan MPs shot down a Bill seeking to legalise a Special Tribunal, thus paving the way for The Hague option.
Attempts to pull Kenya out from the ICC have also been fruitless, despite the 10th Parliament having endorsed a proposal to withdraw from the Rome Statute.
On Friday, Jubilee-allied lawmakers threatened to repeal the International Crimes Act that domesticates the Rome Statute in Kenya, following the recent summonses by the judges to the President to appear in person.
Tetu MP Ndung’u Gethenji, chairman of the National Assembly’s Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Court’s summonses proved it was time to take “drastic action”.
“We need to repeal the International Crimes Act, which is actually the Act that domesticates the Rome Statute in our laws, and you should look out for that. It’s coming very soon,” said Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria.
The new Bill will undoubtedly be music to the ears of the Jubilee brigade, who are rooting for a termination of the charges against the President and his deputy William Ruto.
Establishment of the tribunal may also see the Kenya Government lodge another admissibility challenge, with the argument that the established panel will have opened the way for Kenya to conduct its own prosecutions.
The drafter of the Bill, Edward Nyakeriga, maintained that, if established, the Tribunal will act on “perpetrators that are given leeway and encouraged to act in total impunity”.
“The penalty imposed by the Trial Chamber upon a convicted person shall be to hang or life imprisonment,” the Bill states.
It goes on: “The Tribunal will address the failure to prosecute perpetrators who include planners and organisers of violence and human rights violations.”
Interestingly, the new Bill proposes that the chairmen of the Tribunal's Trial and Appeals Chambers as well as the Judges be appointed by the President with the concurrence of the National Assembly.
Earlier this year, DPP Tobiko dashed PEV victims' hopes by saying that suspects who murdered, raped and destroyed property could not be tried for lack of sufficient evidence.
While Ruto and Sang are on trial, the ICC is due to decide the fate of the President's trial in a matter of weeks after prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she has insufficient evidence.
Through a petition to Parliament, a little-known political entity, the Republic Liberty Party, wants all the Kenyan ICC cases terminated and a local tribunal established to prosecute perpetrators of the 2007/08 post-poll violence.
The Bill, which has been received by the Clerk of the National Assembly, comes only days after Kenyatta appeared in court at The Hague for a status conference on his case.
The Bill states that where criminal proceedings related to the violence that left more than 1,500 people dead are pending before any court, the tribunal shall ask the court to defer the matter to its competence.
“Where the Tribunal makes such a request, the proceedings in the Court shall be terminated forthwith,” the Bill states.
The ICC has previously said it is impossible to refer back any ongoing cases. Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has also said that the more than 4,500 cases that had been investigated by Kenyan police have no evidence.
In 2009, Kenyan MPs shot down a Bill seeking to legalise a Special Tribunal, thus paving the way for The Hague option.
Attempts to pull Kenya out from the ICC have also been fruitless, despite the 10th Parliament having endorsed a proposal to withdraw from the Rome Statute.
On Friday, Jubilee-allied lawmakers threatened to repeal the International Crimes Act that domesticates the Rome Statute in Kenya, following the recent summonses by the judges to the President to appear in person.
Tetu MP Ndung’u Gethenji, chairman of the National Assembly’s Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Court’s summonses proved it was time to take “drastic action”.
“We need to repeal the International Crimes Act, which is actually the Act that domesticates the Rome Statute in our laws, and you should look out for that. It’s coming very soon,” said Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria.
The new Bill will undoubtedly be music to the ears of the Jubilee brigade, who are rooting for a termination of the charges against the President and his deputy William Ruto.
Establishment of the tribunal may also see the Kenya Government lodge another admissibility challenge, with the argument that the established panel will have opened the way for Kenya to conduct its own prosecutions.
The drafter of the Bill, Edward Nyakeriga, maintained that, if established, the Tribunal will act on “perpetrators that are given leeway and encouraged to act in total impunity”.
“The penalty imposed by the Trial Chamber upon a convicted person shall be to hang or life imprisonment,” the Bill states.
It goes on: “The Tribunal will address the failure to prosecute perpetrators who include planners and organisers of violence and human rights violations.”
Interestingly, the new Bill proposes that the chairmen of the Tribunal's Trial and Appeals Chambers as well as the Judges be appointed by the President with the concurrence of the National Assembly.
Earlier this year, DPP Tobiko dashed PEV victims' hopes by saying that suspects who murdered, raped and destroyed property could not be tried for lack of sufficient evidence.
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