The Ocampo 6 obeyed the summonses, presented themselves before the judges and identified themselves for the mentioning of their cases. They probably enjoyed the scenery in Europe, enjoyed their vast wealth, be it ill-gained or otherwise, others may have spent the misappropriated taxpayer shillings in whichever needs they deemed necessary and they are now jetting back into the country. Pundits have been processing the intricate details raised during the proceedings in The Hague and pondering the different likely outcomes, scenarios and implications.
Strangely, Kenyan style, we manage to focus our national lens away from the real issue and instead get set to discuss peripheral issues, non-issues and innuendoes. We, as Kenyans refuse to contemplate the charges facing these gentlemen and to ask ourselves how we got there in the first place.
The charges listed among others; murder, rape, persecution (all in large scale) and the victims are people we knew. They are people we are living with and some of us are still struggling with the results of these heinous acts.
In every Kenyan’s lips should be the statement “ Never again! ” But the prevailing mood is that we are ready for part two of it all. What with politicians planning and scheming plots to marginalise and lock out opponents in the forthcoming elections.
The unmentioned effect of the actions by the politicians are; feelings of disenfranchisement by the communities whose leaders are locked out and we all know what could happen if communities feel an election has been blatantly stolen. Those in the Ocampo 6 know this scenario all too well, yet…..
The government which has been burning midnight oil trying to convince the international community that it can handle its own legal issues seems, yet another time, to be in a spell. It seems to be paralysed and incapable of lifting a stick to stop the warmongers and anarchists. No one in government seems to realize that the sole reason two of its agents are among the Ocampo 6 is the fact that there was a government in power when the PEV was raging, but the government either did nothing, did the right thing the wrong way, or did the wrong thing the wrong way.
So the return of the Hague suspects is cause for celebration and thanksgiving, for some. To others it is a statement that God is with the communities, to some it is a signal to shift gears in the putsch for the elimination of other communities’ voting power. The whole country’s attention seems transfixed on these parochial issues and all seem to have forgotten why or how we got here in the first place.
No one seems to have the solution for our chronic land ownership problems that mostly gets exacerbated by general elections. No one is pondering the pressing problem of resettling the IDPs still in the ‘refugee camps’- all attempts to resolve their problems seem half-hearted and self defeating: why is the government hell bent to purchase land to resettle people who owned land in the first place? Why not resettle them on their original land? Is the application of the law on land ownership partisan? Why do some communities get to decide who can own land in certain parts of the country?- This is impunity and it’s what sent those six to the Hague, let’s not forget that.
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