The times change, and we change with them. During president Daniel Arap Moi's rule, ethnic clashes took place in 1992 and 1997 where many innocent people lost their lives and others displaced from their homes with loss of property running into millions if not billions of shillings. It was said that our security forces were involved in those clashes but despite investigations by the Akilano Akiwumi Commission, nobody was ever prosecuted and convicted for having orchestrated those crimes against humanity, and the hapless Kenyans were left to lick their wounds in the prayer that such heinous atrocities shall never recur again. However, the 2007/8 post-election crisis that resulted in over 1300 deaths, 600,000 displacements and destruction of property has proved to be the turning point to rein in political irresponsibility and impunity in this country.
Retired President Daniel Moi , being the professor of politics, as he has variously been described, may however, have forgotten to warn his political protege that whereas one can be above the law sometimes, nobody has control over changing times and thus no guarantee of being above the law all the time. This is perhaps the reality that is now dawning on those wealthy and senior politicians whose hour of reckoning seems to be nigh as they contemplate the imminent indictment and prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague for crimes against humanity committed during the chaos of 2007/8.
Could it be possible that Moi may have overlooked and even trivialized this piece of advise because ethnic clashes where government security forces were said to have killed innocent people during his watch as president went unheeded and were eventually buried with the passage of time? I hope those who participated in the post election clashes did not delude themselves that it's business as usual and that all will be forgotten. Sorry guys, Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said it on world stage that he wants to make Kenya as an example that impunity on people will never again go unpunished.
Since independence, crimes have been commuted against poor and ordinary Kenyans in this country by the high and the mighty but so far 47 years down the road, nobody has been prosecuted and convicted. This is particularly so for economic crimes that have robbed citizens of livelihoods, starting with the purchase of land using tax-payers money, from the departing colonial farmers at Independence for the landless, but was instead grabbed by senior government officers and politicians who didn't deserve it. This caused untold suffering to the poor families who had no other alternative for livelihoods to feed their families because it was snatched away from them by the same people who were supposed to protect and serve them. If this is not impunity, then I wonder what is.
Our top political leaders including presidents are well known wealthy land owners in a country steeped in poverty and slums. How they acquired those large chunks of land is a matter of conjecture but I think that they have the obligation as leaders to explain how they got it if they wish to mount the pedestal and claim the moral high ground as is expected. In the event that they don't feel obliged to do so, then they may opt to live with the treadmill of deceit around their necks for fraudulently hoarding land that could have helped more deserving subjects that they purport to serve.
The judiciary is a tainted and cursed institution in this country in the eyes of the poor and general public. To date the the cases to determine the crimes of Goldenberg where over 60 Billion shillings of public funds was said to have been stolen about 20 years ago are in court with no time line as to when they will ever be concluded. The new constitution requires both the Attorney General and the Chief Justice to step down and hopefully we shall soon see justice after their overdue exit.
Finally, I think the expected indictment, prosecution and possible conviction of prominent Kenyans by the ICC at the Hague is going to be like the opening of the Pandora's box where our courts will get revitalized and gain courage to prosecute and convict the high and the mighty who hitherto have trashed our judicial process. We hope that the Hague doesn't let us down!
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