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{
    "id": 388778,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/388778/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 142,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Kenyans must wear sackcloth and mourn that the dignity of our land has been shredded into tatters. In my professional life, having interacted with some of these cases, I now know with the benefit of hindsight that a group of people can sit down and concoct fiction and lies and stories from the moon and present them to an incompetent investigator who is looking for fame and becomes the basis of bringing the whole country into the kind of charade that this country is going through right now. I will be surprised, and I say this without any fear of contradiction, that those cases will not succeed. But that is not for me to decide; time will tell. I am certain that no amount of concoction or fiction can withstand the strength and vitality of truth. So as we stand together with our three brothers who are bearing the burden of the shame of the nation and the rest of us are pretending to be saints and prophets, I want to say that that process will come to an end. I am also aware of what the Rome Statute says about countries that want to exit that framework. It is for that reason that part of this Motion is alive to the fact that the ongoing cases involving three Kenyans are not affected. But even if, in accordance with Article 127 of the Rome Statute, those cases are not affected, it is not too late for those of us who are patriotic enough, those of us who mourn for the dignity and pride of our country to do whatever it takes to reduce and redeem the shame of our motherland by asking a number of things which my Motion outlines. Mr. Speaker, Sir, first, I want to say that it is my belief that if we have to demonstrate to the world that as a country and a State party – even the suspects have also said it – that we are willing as a country governed by the rule of law to continue co- operating with the court with regard to the ongoing cases. That the International Crimes Act must continue to operate for that purpose and until those cases are either terminated or dealt with accordingly. That is why my Motion is coached in the words that I have explained. Secondly, we believe it is not too late for those cases to be deferred back to our country. I want to bring to the attention of the Senators that two weeks ago, an interesting vote took place in the Netherlands. This was a vote involving 13 of the judges of the ICC. The question before the judges was whether the Kenyan cases should be returned home or not. Nine of those judges with no Kenyan participating in that vote decided that those cases are better handled in Kenya and they gave their reasons. They said that the Judiciary had improved and a special division of the High Court on International Crimes had been created. I shudder to think that today, in the pursuit of small politics that has ruined this country, that there are Kenyans who are still pushing for our people to go and be humiliated abroad when a good number of judges of that court are saying that these cases are better handled in Kenya. Even the four judges that voted against that decision gave their reason which is even more curious. They explained that they objected because they got a last minute letter from one Kenyan. I am not trying to belittle any Kenyan, but I am wondering who is this single Kenyan who has the capacity to sway a decision when the whole country and the whole continent of Africa has been praying and talking to the ICC, The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}