Foreign Affairs Secretary Amina Mohammed has said Kenya and the African Union will continue in its pursuit to have the Rome Statute amended. The AU has proposed an amendment to the statute to exempt sitting heads of states from attending trial at the ICC.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Amina Mohammed
This will exempt President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto from attending trial at The Hague. Amina yesterday said the amendment proposed by the AU at the ongoing ICC Assembly of State Parties has received interest from many countries.
She said a resolution will be drafted at the end of the meeting next week. Amina was addressing a press briefing. She said Kenya and the AU have already forwarded a notice to UN secretary general on the request to have Articles 137 and 27 of the Rome Statute amended.
Amina said Kenya is not running away from accountability for the 2007-08 post-election violence or its international obligations. “We want to achieve two things; to govern the country and participate in our international obligations,” she said.
However, civil society groups accused the government of “railroading” African countries into making an internal Kenyan matter into an international issue. They said Kenya has misrepresented its position as the issue of whether or not to indict sitting presidents was not moot.
“The two suspects at the ICC were indicted before they became heads of state. They were indicted in their personal capacity and on many occasions prior to their election and even after their election they said they were capable of dealing with the national challenges without impacting on their responsibilities as government officials,” said George Kegoro of the International Court of Jurists, Kenya Chapter.
He said these disharmony with the requirements of the statute were raised when there was a challenge to their candidacy before their election. However, the judiciary found otherwise.
By CATHERINE GICHERU and MATHEWS NDANYI, The Star
