Jubilee: too clever for counsel, yet too foolish

The folly of this Jubilee government is its overconfidence and false sense of importance. Folks are too full of themselves they wouldn’t listen.

I watched senate proceedings as Jubilee senators heckled down Senator James Orengo advising majority leader Kithure Kindiki to pursue Assembly of State parties if they genuinely wanted to help the President and his deputy William Ruto. Instead they thumped their chests because they control the Kenyan legislature. They went ahead to complicate matters with their withdrawal from the Rome Statute motion. Tragedy is, jubilee has some of the most brilliant attorneys in this country in Senate and National Assembly. But they reduced themselves to cannon fodder, spewing tirades at the international community that they shockingly didn’t appear to understand they would depend on when they went to the AU, UN Security Council (UNSC) etc.

Like the Swahili said – “Mwenda omo na tezi marejeo ngamani” - He who goes from bow to stern must return to the bilge

We are back to square one. It has now dawned on the spin masters in the Jubilee Kingdom that they won’t shout or bully their way out of the ICC. Folks are exhausting options. Amazingly, now they are pushing an amendment to the Rome Statute to allow Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto attend trials via video link through the same Assembly of State parties that Orengo advised them to pursue but they arrogantly told off.

We have come from "a sitting president cannot and won’t be humiliated at The Hague" to begging for amendments to help save face. The ICC is inevitable after all. Cool, the proposed amendment is backed by the AU (I elect not to comment on the toothlessness of the AU). But, the Assembly of State Parties isn't a club exclusive to African despots, so they can push and shove amendments at their whims.

Goodness me, the Assembly of States will also decide whether sitting heads of state should be exempt from ICC prosecutions. Why didn’t people think of pursuing this all this while?

Keep enjoying the pleasure of opinion without the discomfort of thought. Therein lies your downfall.