Prime Minister Raila Odinga addresses wananchi at Gatuya Trading Centre in Murang’a East District after attending a funds drive in aid of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Kiboi Parish on Sunday. He said Parliament will have one last chance to establish a tribunal to try suspects of last year’s post-election violence before Kofi Annan steps in. Photo/JOSEPH KANYI
IN SUMMARY
- PM warns MPs they have only one more chance to pass laws to set up local tribunal
Parliament will have one last chance to pass a law establishing a local tribunal to try election violence suspects, Prime Minister Raila Odinga warned on Sunday.
If Parliament rejects the law a second time, then Kofi Annan, the mediator who brokered a deal after the chaotic 2007 election, will be requested to pass on the names of the suspects to the International Criminal Court.
Mr Annan has said Kenya has until August to pass the law. If the deadline passes, he will hand over the envelope containing the list of suspects to the ICC.
MPs were on Sunday sharply divided over the next course of action regarding the masterminds of the violence in which 1,133 people were killed.
Mr Odinga said the government was committed to a local tribunal and that the necessary Bill will be taken to Parliament for debate and enactment by MPs.
“If Parliament passes the Statute, then it is fine. If it doesn’t, we will tell (chief mediator Kofi) Annan to hand over the envelope to the ICC,” he said.
Speaking at a fund-raiser in Murang’a, the Prime Minister hinted that if MPs rejected the Special Tribunal for Kenya Bill and Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill before the deadline, the Government will not wait until August to give Mr Annan the go-ahead to take the Kenyan case to The Hague.
“We may not wait until August. If Parliament does not pass the Bill for the formation of a local tribunal, then The Hague will be the option,” he said.
MPs threw out the first attempt by Government to push through the Bills on the tribunal, forcing President Kibaki and Mr Odinga to ask the former UN secretary-general for more time.
“We asked for more time after the Statute was thrown out the first time. If we had not, Annan would have handed in the envelope in March,” he said.
Mr Odinga said he had a long meeting with Mr Annan in South Africa before the mediator granted the BBC an interview during which he issued the August ultimatum.
“We had a long discussion with him and agreed on what he told the BBC. We agreed with him that we go back to Parliament and develop enough numbers to pass the Bill,” he said.
Source: Daily Nation
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