Commentary By Leo Odera Omolo.

The ruling made last night by the Speaker of the National Assembly that the recent controversial appointments of four persons to sit on importance constitutional offices under the new constitution were unconstitutional in my views were like the “Solomonic Judgement”.

The Speaker of Parliament Hon Kenneth Marende Otiato should go into historical books as a mail stone judgment of a sober minded and mature person who has the interest of Kenyan nation and its people at heart.

Marende’s ruling should be hailed by all level minded Kenyan irrespective of their political parties of affiliation.

It is up to the two principals in the PNU/ODM coalition government, namely President Mwai Kibaki and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga to behave like grown up and mature leaders. The two should ensure at all the time that they do strictly adhere to the rule of law in all their undertakings, particularly during this crucial period of the coalition government under the National Accord and Reconciliation Constitution.

Kenyans are aware that there existed allot of intensified panicking among the six Moreno Ocampo’s suspects following the recent hint by US President Barack Obama that the United States would veto any move to withdrawal Kenya from the ICC.

Furthermore, unless the four people mentioned in President Kibaki appointment of Chief Justice, Attorney-General, Prosecutor and the head of Budgetary system are people with thick skins, they should reject and denounce their appointment as having no political goodwill by Kenyans.They should come out and reject their controversial appointments.

If there is anyone in Kenya who should shoulder the blame perpetuating political destabilization in our country, such blames should be placed squarely at the down steps of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya Hon Mwai Kibaki.

Here is the President who has defiantly and flagrantly allowed people wearing criminal tugs on their head to continue sitting in the cabinet with impunity as if nothing sinister against them has happened. And by so doing, he has given the permission of a free hand of the Moreno Ocampo six suspects to continue rocking the boat from within.

In other countries of the world, and even in our immediate neighborhood of Tanzania and Uganda, these six ICC suspects should have vacated their prime offices on the very days their names were made public by the ICC prosecutor at the Hague. House of the ICC suspected candidates Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto who appeared to have been offended were visibly enraged in their faces which appeared in the Television news footage. Ruto as his usual style of utterances which is fully of political mediocrity did not lost time of names calling and blaming the Prime Minister Raila Odinga as if it was the PM who had influenced the Speaker’s ruling.

The two ICC candidates have since turned Mr.Odinga’s name as their “punching bag”. Only a day after Odinga had toured the North Eastern Province and expressed his heartfelt sympathy with the victims of the 1984 “now infamous “Wagula Massacre”,Ruto and Uhuru mobilized their troop soldiers and entertained them in a luxurious luncheon at the posh Pan-Afric Hotel and thereafter the close to 40 MPs called a press conference to denounce Mr Odinga and called for his immediate arrest and prosecution on charge of incitement.

Surely calling for the arrest of a leader of Mr Odinga caliber and status in this country on such a trivial issue like his speech in Wajir his highly provocative and it meant that some of our leaders have lost their heads totally. Perhaps this is one of the various reasons they want to usurp the powers of the presidency through the back door by forming dangerous tribally oriented amorphous alliances such as KKK.

The Wagulla Massacre in 1984 took place when Mr Odinga and some of his other political associates and friends were rotting in President Moi’s detention camp following the abortive 1982 military coup and could not remotely or covertly have had a hand on it.

President Kibaki recently blundered when he dispatched his colorless Vice President Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka to a diplomatic shuttles in most African capitals to go and persuade the heads of states and government of the African Union to pressurize the UN for the deferral of the ICC cases against the suspect six Kenyans for one year and to request the AU leaders to help Kenya withdrew its membership to the Rome Statue Agreement. But the truth of the matter is that even whether Kenya withdraws from ICC membership or not those who committed the serious criminal offences against humanity would still stand the trial at The Hague.

In this context the close to Kshs 33 million spent on Kalonzo’s futile diplomatic shuttles should have been distributed or used in buying food grains to the famine stricken Kenyans in the northern [part of the country who are dying of hunger due to serious drought and acute shortage of food stuff.

Raila has never incited any Kenyan against their fellow Kenyans nor has his Luo community become bloody thirsty and killed anybody for political expediency.

The Raila’s community is a democratic and proud people who respect the sanctity of human blood. The community has the best history as the law-abiding and cohesive enough and can accommodate Kenyans from other regions irrespective of such people’s political parties of affiliation, race religion, color, tribe or creed. But the community cannot lay-low in the wake of high provocation and insults.

I wholeheartedly in agreements with the sentiments expressed a couple of days ago in Nairobi by the Road Minister Hon. Franklin Bett who said that some of the Kalenjin MPs who are trooping behind the Eldoret North MP William Ruto were cowards who have made their threats of ditching the ODM and joining other parties as a song with no action.

Instead of being used as hired mercenaries against Raila Odinga inside and outside parliament, the politically mediocre Kalenjin current crops of MP should make a bold decision by ditching the ODM, vacating their seats and seeking fresh mandate from the electorate. I am saying that “enough is enough” Ruto and his gangs should leave the ODM in peace so that the party could chat its way forward and get prepared for winning the 2012 general election.

Under the new constitution and in this age of transparency and accountability, Kenyans are tired of hearing stories about it the MPs in the 10 Parliament who are out therefore “hire” and I am sure for certain that the next general election will produce the best educated and highly principled MPs. Kibaki should have left behind the beautiful memorable legendary of settling the IDP people, reconciling Kenyans and not playing the dirty politics of divide and rule, which is the recipe of chaos and political turmoil in many African countries

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com