Uhuru and Ruto Need No Enemies

When the Ocampo Six returned from The Hague, one could see clearly which of them had benefitted from good legal advice and which had not just by the nature of their arrival.

Ali Hussein arrived early - in other words left The Hague - and then headed home or to his job. If anybody went to receive him, it was probably his close family, his driver and the usual retinue of body guards. Is he incapable of mobilizing support?

Ali is a man of means and in Kenya that means his compound is full of humanity. I am sure if I went to North Eastern Province where he hails from it would be overflowing with people, animals and birds. If I were able to speak to the local stray dogs in the nearest market, they would tell me they know when he is home because of the many bones that they eat. Such a man has more than his own dogs loitering in his compound.

Not just that, Ali to his Somali people remains a hero. He was among the first to rise to high ranks in the army and later the police force. So if he wished to, he could mobilize thousands of Somalis to besiege the airport and walk with him to Uhuru park where he could announce a new political movement to redress pass injustices against Somalis in Kenya. Yet he chooses to slide through the traffic unnoticed and go to his own home, the events in The Hague weighing him down.

Henry Kosgey may be an old man but he has clout. He has been a minister for generations. By the time he was elected for the first time as MP for Tinderet, William Ruto was a thirteen year old boy preparing to sit for Primary examinations later that year. He could mobilize the Kalenjin to come and escort him from the airport; but he chose not to!

I have no idea what clout Sang has got but he too could manage to get a reasonable crowd to escort him from the airport. He chose not to.

Among the Meru, Muthaura is King. He is the guy who replaced Jackson Angaine as the King of the Meru. The truth be told, no MP who wants to get reelected can defy Muthaura. So all he had to do was to demand that the MPs mobilize the Merus to welcome him; He did not!

I can only say Kosgey, Muthaura and Sang, like Ali benefitted from the experience and knowledge of the top dollar lawyers that the state has hired for them. They are model clients.

These days of facebook and other social media networks, when a client enters a lawyer's office, the first advice offered once the matter has been disclosed is to without let or hindrance, take down all the personal websites, profiles and keep off the media at all costs! Those who follow the advice smile on the day of judgment and cause the prosecutor to age earlier; Those who ignore the advice watch in grief as the judge pronounces his judgement as the prosecutor smiles.

So it was strange to watch Uhuru make his first speech at the airport. He was handed the microphone. You could see the reluctance he approached it with. Obviously the advice of his lawyer rung in his ears as he watched the microphone. Putting a microphone before a politician is worse than putting a carcass before a hungry hyena. So Uhuru eyed the microphone and his political mouth salivated. Like the proverbial hyena that followed a scent until it reached a crossroads, Uhuru was torn between the advice of his lawyer and the unbearable internal urge to grab the microphone. Had it been a battle, no scribe would have manage to do justice to all its facets. For us, three words would do: The Lawyer Lost! Uhuru grabbed his microphone.

I said Ruto was 13 when Kosgey became an MP for the first time. At that time, I am sure Ruto's God-Fearing mom would have advised her son to walk in the righteous paths. I am told Ruto is a born again Christian who eschews the worship of idols. It is the training his mother gave him. She picked it from the bible:  So while he refused to bow down to one Idol, Ruto decided to ignore the advice of his lawyer and accept the example of an Idol.

The fact that the judge warned them and referred to the media was ignored.

What Uhuru and Ruto lacked was a willingness to abide by the intentions and wishes of the court. So they reasoned (without their lawyers) that as long as they did not personally spread hate, they could attend any meeting where hate was spewed.

At Nipate.com, I started a thread in which I pointed out that Ocampo was preparing to lock up Uhuru. Ofcourse Uhuru and Muthaura duly resigned their offending positions and I annouced that the danger was reduced but not over.

A few minutes ago, it was revealed that Ocampo was seeking to limit or delay discovery on the grounds that witnesses could be in danger. Allow me to quote:

“As soon the suspects returned to Kenya they were given heroes’ welcome by some of their supporters. Additionally, supporters are campaigning to present the ICC activities as an affront against the Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities to which the suspects belong,” Mr Ocampo claims.

“Some of the witnesses against the suspects will be viewed by their ethnic communities as traitors, and their cooperation with the Court as total betrayal. Even if the witnesses and their families are protected, their lives will be affected. Some may not be able to return to Kenya at least for a period of time.”

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,