My Stand On ICC Trial Landed Me In Big Trouble

By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga

Worth Noting:

• After President Uhuru’s case was withdrawn, I dedicated all my time and energy fighting for the acquittal of the current President William Samoei Ruto.
• Hardly a week passed without denouncing the charges levelled against him. I also defended him through verbal commentaries and this would also land me in trouble with members of my community of kikuyu.
• I believed the charges had been trumped up and were politically motivated. The endgame was to bar him and Uhuru Kenyatta from contesting the presidency.
• This plot had been hatched by the opposition leader Raila Odinga. Raila and his brigade believed that this could have cleared the way for him to ascend to power with ease.

Before the International Criminal Court (ICC) trial, I used to work with civil society/ human rights groups as an active member of three lobbies-NCEC/NCA, Youth Agenda and 4Cs.

I’m sure you recall the position of the lobbyists was very clear. They fully supported the ICC prosecutor’s case against Jubilee flag bearers, Hon Uhuru Kenyatta and Hon William Ruto.

They wanted the two leaders to be barred from running for political office, put behind bar in ICC cells and eventually jailed.

For me, I opted to distance myself from them.

This is because their position flew in the face of a cardinal principal of presumption of innocence until one is proven guilty. I strongly believed in this principal. The charges against the duo had not been proven.

In fact, the prosecutor had come under a barrage of attack. This is because he had not conducted primary investigations as required by the Rome Statute that created the ICC.

He had relied on unauthenticated and un- sieved reports compiled by the third parties to build his case.

At some point, the judges of the trial chamber reaffirmed my position when they dismissed the case seeking to bar the duo from vying for the presidency. This case was enjoying the support of lobbyists.

Initially, the groups had tried to convince me to backtrack. Ndonga, we know you are gifted writer. Stop faulting the ICC prosecutor’s case against UhuRuto.

After I declined, they were left with only one option: Blacklisting me and I eventually become jobless.

After President Uhuru’s case was withdrawn, I dedicated all my time and energy fighting for the acquittal of the current President William Samoei Ruto.

Hardly a week passed without denouncing the charges levelled against him. I also defended him through verbal commentaries and this would also land me in trouble with members of my community of kikuyu.

I believed the charges had been trumped up and were politically motivated.

The endgame was to bar him and Uhuru Kenyatta from contesting the presidency.

This plot had been hatched by the opposition leader Raila Odinga. Raila and his brigade believed that this could have cleared the way for him to ascend to power with ease.

After winning the elections, UhuRuto presidency recognized my passion. I started receiving a monthly stipend as preparations were being made to get me a job in the civil service. The plan to get me a permanent job did not materialize. I become one of the victims of the fall out between President Uhuru and then his deputy William Ruto.

During the trial, I worked closely with a top aide of the Dr Ruto. Today, he is senior state officer.

Since President Ruto assumed office, I have kept the faith. This is in terms of championing his political, social-economic agenda.

My woes got exacerbated during the Raila-led demonstrations. I wrote many articles denouncing he protests. One of them was titled ‘Is Raila Out To Cause A Total Economic Sabotage?

It goes: Azimio La Umoja-OKA Party leader Raila Odinga has announced that the third wave of anti-government protests across the country will proceed as planned.

This is despite the top state officials led by President William Ruto vowing that they will not allow the demonstrations to take place.

As we know, Raila’s previous protests always turned chaotic and bloody. This means when he avers that the demos will be peaceful and held in full compliance with the provisions of constitution, this is just a political ploy. He means the opposite of this.

One can therefore understand where President Ruto is coming from when he reiterates. I took the oath of office to protect the lives of Kenyans and their property and this is my core function as spelt out in the constitution.

He would rightly use this as the basis of defending his decision that he was not violating any law.

It is true that Article 37 of the constitution allows Kenyans to exercise freedom of assembly, expression, demonstration and picketing. The same Article, however, emphasis that these activities should be held within an environment that is peaceful and non-violent. So, those participating- organisers and thier supporters-must be unarmed.

In Raila’s demos, the picture is totally different. Some of the protestors were always armed to the teeth.

The video clips taken by the mainstream media and social media would attest to this.

In recent demo, they escalated the orgy of violence and destruction. At least 9 people lost thier lives. The government installations were also not spared. A government office and a national flag were set ablaze. The flag had been hoisted. A goon climbed the pole and pulled it down then burnt it. Report indicated he was among those lost who died.

The newly constructed Nairobi Expressway was also vandalized and destroyed, causing a damage worth Sh700 million.

They also used machetes to break into a Supermarket and stole all goods and money. The money vaults were turned upside down.

One may ask. Where were the anti-riot police? Well, we saw them engaging the protesters in running battles.

But as it turned out, they were dealing with hardcore criminals who were ready to pay the ultimate price. Some reports indicated a good number of them had been hired and had allegedly been given clear instructions that Baba wanted to see them cause a heavy damage to our economy.

A report released by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KPSA) showed that the business community was losing Sh3 billion every day when the demonstration was held.

For Baba Raila, many believed that he had come to this conclusion. President William Ruto is a big-headed and a hard nut to crack. So, Raila had only option and this is to do a total economic sabotage.

He hoped this will force Dr Ruto to climb down, invite and engage him on a one-on-one talk.

Once the talks are concluded and Raila have his way, he would emerge and tell the country that we have reached ‘a ceasefire’.

He will also climb down from his earlier hardline stance and now recognize Ruto as the President of Kenya.

For those well conversant with the history of Raila, I’m sure they would agree with me. He had previously played a similar script.

In 2007, he forced President Mwai Kibaki to share the government with him on 50-50 basis.

In 2017, he forced President Uhuru Kenyatta to shake hand with him.

Given this scenerio, I would agree with President Ruto. Raila developed a bad habit and ‘I will not allow this to continue anymore’.

Raila lost the election. He should accept this bitter truth and move on.

This is my advise to him. He should stick to his role as an opposition leader.

I’m ready to facilitate the work of his office because I believe in a strong, vibrant and robust opposition that will put my government in checks.

Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi

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About the Author

Joseph Mutua Ndonga

Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a Writer and Political Analyst based in Nairobi

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