The ICC ruling, my two cents opinion
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Since Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova (Forgive my imagination but I still think her name sounds like that of a hooker or rogue agent in a fast-paced spy movie) delivered her ruling indicting three and a half of the Ocampo five and a half, I have pretty much steered clear of the debate on the blogosphere. And with good reason. Tempers were flaring so high that I chose to watch the fire from a distance. Hilarious it has turned out to be, and also horrifying. Now that things are cooling down, I can throw my two-cent opinion into the mix.
Some guy - possibly drunk after inhaling too much exhaust fumes from an old matunda bus - actually threatened to go on hunger strike. I won’t comment further on him. Minyoo united choir will teach him a lesson. They love practicing in wide open stomachs when there is a sizeable audience.
Someone else however made a threat way scarier than the Mayans prediction of the end of the world. She offered to strip.
You know, that is like the devil asking you whether you want to preview your death, in 3D, with your enemies laughing in the background. I would prefer to walk to Kismayu barefoot with a load on my back than watch the weave-ambassador with a permanently vacationing brain perform a strip-tease. We have seen enough flabby stomachs and stretch marks on internet exposes so please, keep your clothes and weave on.
But what do I think about the whole ICC ruling and the suspects, because yes, they now are suspects.
First, IMHO, I think they should not quit their posts, as much as this has now already happened. Why? According to the evidence tabled, it appears the people in power endorsed their actions fully. That is a case of dad-fart; dad-blame-mom, mom-blame-child, child-blame-dog then parents beat child and dog. If their actions were endorsed by the powers that be, then that is where the purging should begin. You cannot say that because the house was robbed then the dog, not the watchman, is to blame. If they are to resign, lets start at the top and clean the whole damn house instead of just removing the visible cobwebs.
Second, I don’t care whether Ruto and Uhuru vie for the presidency. I will not vote for either even if every other person votes for them. I will not vote for them even if the neighbour’s chicken composes a song in their praise and sings it every morning instead of crowing. When you are arraigned in court for crimes against humanity which include murder, rape and forceful displacement of people, then that is where the line between me and you is drawn. Suspicion alone is bad enough because I think we as Kenyans need – strike that- DESERVE leaders who are beyond reproach. Forgive me for saying this but I don’t think I can get that from these two.
I would not vote for Raila either. To further explain why, although Kibaki is not vying this time round, I would not vote for him if he was vying too. The whole mess was caused by their selfish interests of not putting the country first and not doing enough to avert the ensuing chaos. I don’t think the country deserves leaders who cannot look beyond their ambitions to save the country while it was at the brink of civil strife. They may or may not have directly instigated the violence but I don’t think parents who watch their children beat each other up because they do not agree who is the head of the family deserves a good-parenting medal. They had become so hard-headed about the whole issue that, IMHO, they would rather be President of a ravaged war-torn country than back down. Letting the country go for almost two months of chaos and violence without any of them emerging as the bigger man and making the violence stop disqualifies both of them in my books.
Lastly, what I think the ICC has done is present Kenyans with an opportunity to weed out bad leadership. I know there are many other Presidential aspirants but, with all due respect, none have been able to rally Kenyans enough to make them believe again that we can change this country. I know Tuju, Martha Karua, Kalonzo and others are out there but none of them have really come out to chart a clear way forward or presented something different. We need someone to chart a way forward and not just ask for votes. I believe when an idea is good enough and you sell it to the people, they will support you without you even asking.
There are 40 million of us. It is my prayer that someone will emerge and take this golden moment to chart a way forward for this country; someone who will weed bad leadership from this country. Someone the country can rally after.
And only then will this country truly heal and move on.
But that is just my opinion...
