Mutula’s unenviable responsibility

When you’re Justice minister, there’s a whole load of responsibilities within your ambit, more so, if the country is at a crossroads in matters of law.

Senior Counsel Mutula Kilonzo is a man with that unenviable responsibility.

He doesn’t see how he can share the Cabinet table with suspects of crimes against humanity.

He can’t picture himself agreeing to a decision made by people charged with serious crimes like rape, murder and mass displacement of Kenyan citizens.

Having such suspects in key positions in the country, the minister submits in his not-so-humble opinion, will be the acme of impunity.

So, as a matter of principle, the minister called upon Deputy Prime Minister and Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta to resign.

He also asked Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, to do likewise.

As if that was not enough, he asked Mr Kenyatta to drop his presidential ambitions until the grave charges against him at the International Criminal Court are heard and determined.

That too, he said, should be the case for Eldoret North MP William Ruto, who also wants to be the next chief executive of the republic.

As a senior counsel with decades of experience, Mr Kilonzo knew what he was talking about.

He said Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura had no basis to claim legitimacy in office just because of pending appeals.

In any case, he argued, they should resign and wait for the conclusion of the process. If they are cleared, he said, they could resume duty.

To Mr Kilonzo, the duo’s reluctance to step down was eroding patriotism and subverting the Constitution.

He quoted sections of the Constitution that stipulate that a public officer should not demean the office and asked how suspected rapists and murderers did not see their positions in government as untenable.

Even the national anthem, he said, has a line about “Kenya istahili heshima” (Kenya deserves honour).

The charges the suspects face demean the “glory” of Kenya all over the world and that’s not something Mr Kilonzo could live with.

But then, the Justice minister is a big shot in the Wiper Democratic Movement — the party led by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.

Mr Musyoka has been hobnobbing with Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto.

Together, they hoped to form the next government. If the two are hauled to The Hague, Mr Musyoka stands to win.

That his right hand man in the party was busy pushing for Mr Kenyatta to quit office did not sit well politically for the VP.

But Mr Kilonzo insisted there was little integrity in having suspects in key positions just because they are “innocent until proven guilty”.

“Why for example would the whole country descend on the Deputy Chief Justice (Nancy Baraza) and call for her resignation just for nose-pinching, yet, these ones are let off the hook?” posed Mr Kilonzo.

Is it any wonder that the President yielded to the fervent advice of his Justice minister after such a basic comparison?