Hosting Al-Bashir was a signal to ICC that Kenya will not cooperate

What a great display of worthlessness!” a friend quipped. Yet another one said: “It is a slap in the face of all those who thought for a minute that the new Constitution was to be in itself a breath of fresh air.”

I could not agree more with them. Amid all the pomp and fanfare that greeted the promulgation of the ratified constitution was the conspicuous presence of Omar al- Bashir at Uhuru Park. At the very least, his presence was an egregious violation of Kenya’s new constitutional chapter. His presence provided an anti-climax to this country’s constitutional hour.

Suffice it to say that President Kibaki had all the powers to invite whomever he wished for that auspicious occasion, subject only to one caveat – that in so doing, he does not ride roughshod over the sovereign will of the people of Kenya.

It must be remembered that Kenya has domesticated the Rome Statute making it part and parcel of our constitution. By inviting, dining and wining with a person indicted by ICC for committing heinous acts of murder against hundreds of thousands of Sudanese, President Kibaki violated not only the Rome Statute but he has also violated the sovereign will of the people of Kenya for which Parliament and the public must hold him accountable.

Clearly, State House knew that this invitation would create a huge furore locally and internationally but still went ahead to make this egregious mistake and place the country under a flood of international condemnation with possible sanctions in the pipeline.

The fact that the planners at State House were undeterred is perhaps a clear indication that there is a gang somewhere which is irked by the Rome Statute, and elected to use this invitation to send clear signals to ICC that Kenya will most certainly circumvent any attempts at retributive justice over the 2008 post election violence.

There is no doubt here that Kenya is hell bent on sending a strong statement to the world that its cooperation with ICC in terms of investigation, apprehending and prosecution of the suspected perpetrators of the post election violence, will not be guaranteed. There could be no better way than hosting and ensuring the safe passage of Al-Bashir to and from Kenya under the full glare of the world. Call it impunity if you like.