Leaders: Prayers for William Ruto ICC case a waste of time
Wananchi display a poster of Deputy President William Ruto and Mr Joshua arap Sang during a prayer rally in Kiptororo, Kuresoi, Nakuru County, on September 6, 2015. The prayers may be misconstrued as public incitement against the ICC, some Rift Valley leaders have warned. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP.
Some North Rift leaders have urged Jubilee politicians to use legal channels rather than “wasteful prayer rallies” in defence of Deputy President William Ruto at the ICC.
Led by Cherangany MP Wesley Korir, the leaders on Tuesday said though prayers are important, they are legally invalid.
Leaders, they said, should desist from politicising the case in the name of prayers.
“We are not opposed to prayers at all. In fact, we encourage them," said Mr Korir, a former Boston Marathon winner-turned-politician.
"But pragmatically, this are legal proceedings and only evidence tabled by both sides will prevail and we should invest more in the legal team and process if we genuinely need the Deputy President and Joshua arap Sang to be free.”
PUBLIC INCITEMENT
Politicians, mostly from the Rift Valley and central Kenya, recently launched a series of prayer rallies to seek divine intervention in the crimes-against-humanity case facing Mr Ruto and Mr Sang.
Mr Korir and other leaders argued that cases against President Kenyatta and former Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey were dropped after a legal battle, not prayers.
“As much as they might be meaning good for the two gentlemen, this might also be interpreted as a public incitement against an already ongoing legal process, which may be counterproductive,” said Mr Kipkorir Menjo, ODM’s North Rift point man.
According to Mr Menjo, politicians, especially from the Rift Valley, must learn from Mr Kosgey, who left the legal process to run its course.
1,133 DIED
“They should instead involve state parties, as I have heard they are engaging the African Union, rather than conducting prayers-cum-political rallies which might be misconstrued as them undermining the legal process,” added Mr Menjo.
The case against Mr Ruto and Mr Sang stemmed from the 2007-08 post-election violence in which 1,133 people were killed and 650,000 uprooted from their homes.
The chaos broke out after a disputed presidential election pitting Party of National Unity candidate Mwai Kibaki against the Orange Democratic Movement's Raila Odinga.
