HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 66039,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/66039/?format=api",
"text_counter": 201,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Musyoka",
"speaker_title": "The Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 188,
"legal_name": "Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka",
"slug": "kalonzo-musyoka"
},
"content": "Hon. Members may already be aware that the social disruption Kenya suffered severely tested the nerve of governance structures, social cohesion and nationhood. Fortunately, we proceeded to renegotiate the terms of governance of our country. We established the Grand Coalition Government as a show of unity, commenced a process of facing up to the truth and the realization of justice and reconciliation; a process of national cohesion and integration and the resettlement of internally displaced members of our society. Above all, we conducted the greatest and most refreshing public dialogue of our time that led to the writing of a completely new and truly progressive Constitution. The public referendum that followed led to the very memorable promulgation of the new supreme law of our land on the historic 27th August, last year. Indeed, our new Republic was born. We have, meanwhile, remained committed to establishing national institutions that, once entrenched, will forestall the recurrence of inter-ethnic violence and surely underwrite the stability of our country. Indeed, this is the spirit that informed the Cabinet to resolve and support the establishment of a local tribunal here in Kenya to try suspected perpetrators of the 2007/2008 atrocities and deliver justice to victims. Hon. Members will recall that the House, including the Cabinet, the President and the Prime Minister, twice, assembled in the other Chamber in an effort to amend the Constitution to allow for the setting up of the envisaged local Judiciary mechanism to no avail. That effort was unsuccessful, perhaps, due to suspicion and intense anti-local tribunal campaigns at the time with the rallying core-Members saying: âDo not be vague! Go to the Hague!â At that point, external options began to appear more attractive. Sections of our society began to lean heavily towards the ICC as the first option in the search for justice rather than as the court of last resort as it is actually intended to be. The chance for Kenyans to find a solution was regrettably lost. Happily, the founding of a new Constitution has presented us with an opportunity for a fresh start in laying a firmer foundation for a new Kenya, through the establishment of a more credible and capable national institutions. Mr. Speaker, Sir, among the new promising institutions in this regard is a new and more robust justice system that includes a reformed Judiciary. The system will have a new Chief Justice and a vetted Bench, a revamped and constitutionally entrenched Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and a new Attorney-General. Those eagerly awaited changes are bound to create conditions that favour the formation of a credible and reliable local Judiciary mechanism capable of comprehensive delivery of justice. A functioning local judicial process will affirm our collective faith in our own institutions as a civilized, sovereign and reborn nation. Kwame Nkurumah once stated: âThe best way of learning to be an independent sovereign State is to be an independent sovereign State.â Closer home, the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere stated: âNo nation has the right to make decisions for another nation, no people for another people.â The Kenyan nation and the Kenyan people have to rise up to the right to make their own decisions, including trying their own suspects before their own courts. A Cabinet resolution, late last year, reaffirmed Kenyaâs commitment to the ICC process with a primacy of place given to our local judicial mechanism. Pursuant to that resolution, the President launched an initiative to lobby the African Union (AU) and the African Members of the UN Security Council to support Kenyaâs request to defer the ICC case, at least for a period of one year as the country works to set up a local judicial process. Towards this end, the President requested Cabinet Ministers, Njeru Githae, Chirau Mwakwere, Dalmas Otieno and I to proceed on this mission as his special envoys. I visited some African countries and held discussions with the respective leaders. I visited the Republic of South Africa and conferred with President Jacob Zuma. Hon. Members will appreciate that the Republic of South Africa is a current member of the UN Security Council. I also visited the Republic of Malawi and held discussions with the then outgoing AU Chair, President Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika. I visited the Republic of Uganda and met with President Yoweri Museveni. I also visited the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and held discussions with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who is also the current Chair of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD). While in Addis- Ababa, I had an occasion to visit and held discussions with AU Commission Chair, Mr. Jean Ping. The final phase of the mission took me to Tripoli where I held talks with my brother, leader and colleague, Muammar al-Gaddafi of the Great Arab Socialist Libyan, Jamahiriya. I then went to Abuja and met the Vice President Namadi Sambo who received us very well. By that time, President Goodluck Jonathan was in Addis Ababa supporting President Kibakiâs request. It is worth noting that Nigeria is also a current Member of the UN Security Council. My colleague, hon. Njeru Githae, visited Djibouti, Burundi and Tanzania while hon. Mwakwere travelled to Botswana, Lesotho and Zambia. The total cost of those visits by the delegations - and this will be of interest to hon. Dr. Khawale--- In the case of the Ministry of Home Affairs, considering the strength of the delegation, the cost amounted to Kshs31.5 million. That does not include expenses by the Minister for Tourism who travelled to Tripoli because he covered his costs from the Ministry of Tourism. The same can be said of the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development which is led by hon. Njeru Githae. The same also applies to the Ministry of Home Affairs which funded Ambassador Mr. Abbas and Ambassador Mr. Mathenge who constantly travelled with me. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am pleased to report to this House that all the leaders we met in all the countries that we visited received the Presidentâs message very positively. The leaders accorded support for Kenyaâs request for a one year UN Security Council Deferment of the ICC cases. All the African leaders maintained that African problems, however difficult they may be, required internal solutions which are organic and responsive to the peculiarities of our local circumstances and challenges. In our Kenyan case, we need to see justice for the victims of the election violence, compensation for losses incurred and, most importantly, we need to promote national healing, reconciliation and integration. The mission was very successful. The IGAD Summit Resolution in support of Kenyaâs resolution to the ICC was adopted unanimously by the AU Summit. You should have listened to President Kibaki explaining about those who contributed to this very important matter affecting, not just Kenya, but the future of the African Continent. There were very powerful statements that were made by Heads of African Republics. The AU Commission has, subsequently, written to the UN Security Council calling for the deferment of the Kenyan case that is presently before the ICC at the Hague. It will also be recalled that His Excellency the President received, in his Office here in Nairobi, the Chair of the State Parties to the Rome Statute who called on him here and he had a positive response."
}