Punishing organisers of poll chaos will curb impunity

Masterminds of the post-election violence must face justice to slay the dragon of impunity, two foreign legal experts have said.

The justice can be meted at home or at The Hague, Polish judge Wladyslaw Czaplinski and lawyer Roland Kouassi, added.

“We cannot continue to flout the rule of law and accountability... If the culture of impunity is not acted upon, then it will ultimately bring down the whole society. It must be stopped,” Mr Kouassi, a senior legal adviser and spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, said on Wednesday.

“To prevent perpetrators of violence from coming back to commit other atrocities, they should not remain unpunished,” added Prof Czaplinski, who is in the country to lobby Kenya to support his candidature as a judge of the International Criminal Court.

He is scheduled to visit several other countries that have ratified the Rome Statute.

Their sentiments came a day before the Ocampo Six made their initial appearance before The Hague-based court on Thursday and Friday.

The six, who are already in the Netherlands, are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, public service boss Francis Muthaura, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, his Tinderet counterpart Henry Kosgey, Postmaster-General Hussein Ali and Kass FM journalist Joshua Sang.

They will be facing charges of murder, persecution and forcible evictions of civilians if their cases are confirmed.

On Wednesday, Prof Czaplinski and Mr Kouassi, speaking separately, said that once the cases involving the Ocampo Six start at The Hague, it would be difficult stop them.

The Polish judge, however, said Kenya still had a window to establish a credible mechanism to try the suspects.

“I could imagine that there is some possible solution to this issue. But for this to work out, it must be preceded by political will by the country’s leadership,” he said.

The judge said the ICC process was not meant to punish Kenya, but “it is the only court that will guarantee a fair justice process for the accused.”

The two legal experts however expressed disappointment over the fact that three years after the post-election violence, no credible mechanism had been set up to try suspects.

Mr Czaplinski said pulling out of the Rome Statute was “the worst thing” Kenya could do.

He said African states should play their part in ensuring that they strengthened the Rome Statute, which upholds respect for the rule of law.