THE HAGUE SIX: MY TAKE

I watched with dismay as loads and loads of presumably angry Kenyans swarm into streets and elsewhere in the countryside in the name of supporting their kith and kin named in Louis Moreno Ocampo's list for the Hague trials. It is even baffling that some of the protests were led by reknown lawmakers. This leaves the big question, as a nation, where are we heading? Personally, i am greatly convinced that it is great foolhardy to take to the streets in the name of somebody's innocence. Someone will read for me the freedom of expression. Well and good, but if someone is innocent, who needs to demonstrate over it? I mean, they wheels of ICC justice may seem slow, but they surely get us there, to justice. Now, to demonstrate that someone is innocent does not remove that tag of a suspect from him. If anything, it just raises questions and questions.

Since the infamous 2008, i would have sworn that Kenyans have learnt a thing or two. I am dismayed and down that in such a big lesson, we never learnt a thing. This sadly means that the over 1,300 lives lost in the tribal flare-up were lost for nothing. Nothing! Which means if there was a time to be ashamed of being a Kenyan, this is the time. For some of us to argue that Moreno's actions are politically instigated it is utter nonsense. Moreno gives no damn what happens in 2012, who gets elected the president or why. His main concern is that along the path to new leaders and all that, that human rights are respected, that people are not victimized because of their tribe, that innocent souls are not burnt in churches, that innocent women and children are not raped, that young men do not have their limbs chopped in the name of this or that. This is basically the prosecutor's diet. To think otherwise is just playing a dirty trick on our minds. If the politicians were very sincere about a local tribunal to try the perpetrators of tribal violence in 2008, where were they since then? Is it we realize we are late when we miss the last train? It is a pity that even the parliament has been reduced into a tribal theatre. Watching mps Isaac Ruto and Jeremiah Kioni argue that Kenya should withdraw her membership from the Rome Statute, one was left feeling awful in the mouth. It tasted and sounded sinister. A smart Kenyan could see the connection. Isaac Ruto for William Ruto, Henry Kosgey, Joshua arap Sang, and Jeremiah Kioni for Uhuru Kenyatta. I strongly believe that this tribal notion is no good for a country heading to a general election come 2012.

For some people to argue that the people named in the so-called Hague Six are being witch-hunted is another Big Bang Theory. It is balderdash! To argue that the list is targeting particular people with an inclination angle to 2012 is equally balderdash. To argue that some people involved in the 2008 chaos are not in the list is true. True because, if every name was to appear on the list, there would be them, you and i. Every Kenyan, through commission, submission or omission partook in the clashes. It thus would be a Herculean task for Moreno to include all the names on the list. I think Moreno was right to the point. He is interested in the main architects of the chaos. I mean, justice has to start somewhere. If it has to start with the six, Hallelujah! Majority of Kenyans want the truth. They don't care who is there in the list, his tribe, his role, his wrongs, his rights, his connections, his hell-knows-what. We want the truth, and justice. We can get it for everyone, or we can water it down through tribal chants. And like a hen, it will come home to roost!