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{
    "id": 493262,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/493262/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 366,
        "legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
        "slug": "amos-wako"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to speak on this very important Motion and to thank the President for the speech he delivered on 6th October, 2014. Let me, first of all, start by congratulating the President for having stood on the side of the rule of law; having decided to obey the summons of the ICC to go to The Hague. This is obviously normal as expected of any law abiding citizen to obey the summons of the court. But in this particular instance, I feel I must thank and congratulate him because there was very strong pressure from his supporters that he should not go. There was great fear amongst his supporters of what might happen if he went there. There was also pressure from his peers at the African Union (AU) level for him not to go. Mr. Speaker Temporary, Sir, as you are aware, a resolution had already been passed by the Heads of State and Governments of the AU that no sitting Head State should go to The Hague or should answer summons from ICC. He withstood all that pressure. Even some of the Heads of State in the neighbouring countries appealed to him not to go. Therefore, for him to have withstood all that pressure, and the decision to go to the ICC, is worthy of congratulations. Having been involved in the ICC matters, I do recollect that way back in 1979 and 1980, I was amongst the very few people who were sitting at a conference in The Netherlands who called for the establishment of the International Criminal Court. Thereafter, we campaigned for its establishment. When I became Attorney-General (AG), I was actively involved in ensuring that the Kenya Government does ratify the Rome Statute. Not only did I ensure that it happened, I also went to New York personally and deposited instruments of ratification with the Secretary General of the United Nations Organisation (UN). I came back and we drafted the International Crimes Bill to domesticate that Rome Statute. That is the law under which we are operating. That law also includes a section in our Constitution which says that a President is not immune from prosecution in relation to crimes committed under an international treaty. I was involved in all those for good purpose. I will be coming to that later. I want to mention that on this particular case as the Attorney-General, as soon as these names came out-the famous six- I remember saying that in my view, the threshold to attract a criminal charge on an international crime had not been met under the Rome Statute. I did say that. I did also say that the Waki Commission did not say that, that threshold had been met. It said that further investigations must be done. I am still of that 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."
}