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{
    "id": 494104,
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    "content": "was there. The President just became an ordinary person, used an ordinary vehicle, went to his home and allowed his Deputy to act as the President when he was in the country. Very few people would have had the confidence and courage to allow another person to sit in that seat. It happens in other offices, like when you and I sit on the Chair on behalf of the Speaker, but some other public officers, particularly at the county level, find it impossible to allow even the deputy governor to act, even when they are out of the country. So, we must commend the President for basically showing selfless leadership and confidence in the office, being ready, believing in the people that he works with and in the person of the Deputy President. I also want to commend him for assuring the rest of the Government that he has confidence in the Deputy President. That was historical in itself. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it was also historical in the sense that the President was honouring the constitutional requirement that when he is required in a foreign court, he will go. That was not an easy thing. Any other President in the world would have taken refuge in the office of the President to try to avoid attending such summons. He was being summoned just to go and sit down in a conference. He was not even required to speak. It is unfortunate that the ICC, that is expected to abide by certain minimum standards of law, would want a President to just go and sit there, be embarrassed and let go. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am a proud Kenyan to have witnessed the President addressing Parliament, particularly capturing salient provisions of Article 132 of the Constitution, relinquishing office to his deputy while he was in town and travelling to The Hague as an ordinary citizen. He also patiently listened to the Judges and proceedings at the ICC that actually never required his presence in the first place. He came back and remained the President. That humility should permeate other sectors of government. It should permeate our national and county leadership. It is a kind of leadership that shows an example; that we are willing to sacrifice and accept, even in the presence of those who want to humiliate us, that we are willing to give in and to continue accepting that the sovereignty of the people of Kenya must not be put to disrepute and, therefore, we must commend the President for that. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for those who supported the trial to be done at The Hague, at that point in time, many Kenyans thought that it was going to be a serious process, the investigations were going to be watertight and that the prosecutor had done his assignment but only for us to realize that the ICC process has just become a charade, only to realize that Moreno Ocampo instead of utilizing the resources given by other countries including Kenya to do thorough investigations, we have now come to realize that a group of civil society organizations who are amongst us hired witnesses, paid 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."
}