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Even by President Uhuru Kenyatta's usual less-than-presidential displays of flippancy and bonhomie, this latest attempt at being "real" was pretty insensitive and in poor taste:
Released video footage showed Mr. Kenyatta, a former crimes-against-humanity suspect, poking fun at Gambian barrister Fatou Bensouda's failed attempt to successfully charge him at The Hague. By so doing, the president re-opened the wounds of Kenya's Period of Infamy and epitomized utter lack of sensitivity and absolute hubris.
Mr. Kenyatta's utterances also revisited charges first raised during the run-up to the "thanksgiving rally" planned in Nakuru in mid-April after Ms. Bensouda dropped the case against the president and his deputy: That the two former suspects were "dancing on the graves of the victims of Kenya's post-election violence of 2007/2008".
Referring to the protests that followed Donald J. Trump's victory over Hillary R. Clinton in the just-concluded US Presidential Elections, Mr. Kenyatta told the gathered audience that:
"Recently, you saw what happened in the United States. Despite the fact that there were violent demonstrations.....in fact, I was tempted to look for Fatou Bensouda to put a case against post-election violence in the United States....."
The gathered dignitaries, along with President Kenyatta went on to rollick in laughter as he made light of an event that evokes the same emotions in Kenya as do some of the world's most traumatic events including the genocide in Rwanda circa 1994.
Lost in President Kenyatta's misplaced comparison between the 2007/2008 post-election violence in Kenya that landed both he and his DP Mr. William Ruto at The Hague AND the 2016 protests in Portland, Los Angeles, New York and other major cities in the US following Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton was the glaring fact that approximately 1,200 Kenyans lost their lives in the former's (Kenya's) post-election violence.
Also lost in President Kenyatta's callous remarks was the fact that over 500,000 Kenyans were displaced in their own country. The same man who gloated about "eating meat" even as those in the opposition "salivated" seemed oblivious if not outright indifferent to the negative impact of Kenya's post-election violence on personal property and the Kenyan economy writ large. Mr. Kenyatta also conveniently overlooked the fact that the US is NOT a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. He also skipped over the suggestion made by his erstwhile colleagues: that the coalition government should "not be vague" but take the (post-election violence) cases to The Hague!
Contrastingly, there have been no reports of death in over 2+ weeks of demonstrations against the November 8th election results in America. The protests have disrupted lives and resulted in damage to property. However, that no lives have been lost in the wake of Mr. Trump's Electoral College victory is even more impressive given the overwhelming advantage Ms. Clinton has in the popular vote -- 2Million+ votes at last count.
Finally, lost in Mr. Kenyatta tasteless attempt at humor was the premise upon which his "joke" was fashioned:
Failure of the International Criminal Court to sustain charges against him. Alongside other unsavory machinations, the president and his team successfully foisted hyperbolic and damaging charges of hypocrisy onto the world's court leading up to its failure (to charge him) thus all but assuring a sad but predictable outcome:
That almost a decade later, no one has been held accountable for the post-election violence that wreaked havoc in Kenya after the marred 2007 campaign between an incumbent (Mwai Kibaki) who was summarily sworn into office under cover of dark and a challenger (Raila Odinga) who was the incumbent's erstwhile comrades-in-arm against President Daniel Moi.
Mr. Kenyatta joked about the world court's failure to prosecute him despite the incontrovertible evidence that countless lives were ACTUALLY lost and permanently changed in Kenya's post-election violence; violence that also caused property damage worth billions.
Yes, America is just as divided as Kenya. The two countries are divided along ethnic/racial, economic and class fault lines. However, the key difference President Kenyatta's joke overlooked is the existence of relatively strong and independent institutions (law enforcement, judiciary, legislature, executive) in America. These institutions, as flawed and demonstrably biased as they are, have managed the protests and disputed election outcomes with nary the level of violence and destruction to property that Kenyatta's Kenya witnessed in 2007/2008.
Mr. Kenyatta, reportedly a student of history should know better. He owes Kenyans an apology. At a minimum, he should apologize to the family and friends of those permanently scarred by the country's post-election violence of 2007/2008 for his insensitive and flippant remarks.
By Washington Osiro | marloow@yahoo.com