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{
    "id": 509441,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/509441/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 182,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ababu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "this country. It is a known fact and it is not a secret that while we are pleased for the President, and I have just delivered my personal congratulatory message to His Excellency the President and I have just wished well the DP, and I am sincere that I wish him well in similar measure, but even as we wish the two well, and I also wish my brother arap Sang in similar measure, we must also turn our attention to the victims of these programmes. Hundreds and thousands of our people lost their lives. Hundreds of thousands were displaced and while we pray for fairness for those that have appeared before the ICC, may our conscience be disturbed as a nation to think deep? May we be disturbed to an extent where we must find a way to deliver justice to the victims? Whether that justice will come in the form of, perhaps, the House sitting down to consider a local process through which the victims can get justice; that is a matter we have to think about. This is because even as we report that we have taken measures to address their welfare, I am confident, and I speak without any fear of contradiction, that His Excellency the President wherever he is, knows very well that the issue of justice to the victims will remain a scar on the conscience of this nation and it is one that we must collectively, as leaders, think about how to resolve. Therefore, congratulations are in order to His Excellency the President, but may we also now grapple with the challenge of how to deliver justice to the victims. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, as I have already noted, this Report also talks about witness protection. Yes, this House has made efforts to put in place legislation designed to protect witnesses and the Government has put in place measures intended to protect witnesses. But it is true that witnesses in this particular matter have remained vulnerable and it is a challenge. Indeed, it is one of those challenges emerging out of this process on how as a country we can move forward to have a foolproof; an unimpeachable witness protection arrangement that can give confidence to any citizen of this land who wishes or desires to be a witness in matter of this nature; that they can come forward confident that they will be protected. Therefore, while we appreciate everything that the Government has reported here about the Rome Statute, those are challenges we must admit and must go on record. It has also become very apparent that there is a very strong drive on the Government side for the country to withdraw from the Rome Statute. There have been efforts to interfere with fulfillment of our obligations under this Statute. I hope, now that His Excellency the President has the International Criminal Court (ICC) monkey off his back, the drive; determination to pull Kenya out of the Rome Statute will calm down. This is because there are good reasons why Kenya ratified the Rome Statute and why we joined other nations of the world to support the Statute. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, let me conclude by making reference to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the ICCPR. That is reported on Page 18 of the Report and specifically Paragraph 4.2. The ICCPR is a critical covenant that guarantees political and civil rights of all citizens. But the manner in which the Jubilee Government has treated the media and the civil society has flown right in the face of guarantees under the ICCPR."
}