Raila Odinga has criticised President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto tomorrow’s rally at Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium.
The CORD leader likened the thanksgiving rally to celebrate the dropping of International Criminal Court charges against Mr Ruto, to “dancing on the graves” of the 2007-2008 Post-Election Violence victims.
“It amounts to mocking the dead and the surviving victims of post-election violence for the President and his Deputy to…celebrate the end of the pursuit of justice over the atrocities of the mayhem in 2007/2008,” Mr Odinga said in a statement to the media on Friday. “The only picture that comes to mind is that of the President and his Deputy leading a procession of Jubilee followers performing the ‘danse macabre’ over the graves of their fellow county men,” he said.
He said there was nothing to celebrate about the collapse of the ICC cases, which signified impunity and lack of justice for the victims. Mr Odinga said while Kenyan leaders “got caught up in a mixture of botched investigations and subversion of the administration of justice,” the dropping of the charges ended the only chance to end impunity.
Explaining his position on the collapse of the ICC cases, Mr Odinga said he congratulated Mr Ruto as his freedom was of concern to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). He said the dropped charges “proved that ODM did not plan any violence against other Kenyans.”
“Ruto could not have planned for the eviction and murder of so many ODM supporters in so many parts of the country including Nairobi, Naivasha, Nakuru and Kisumu,” Mr Odinga said.
He added: “Ruto certainly could not have evicted so many perceived ODM supporters from the remote parts of central Kenya where the party then had to hire buses and ferry people to Kisii, Kericho, Kakamega, Kisumu, Eldoret and other parts of western Kenya”.
Mr Odinga called for the truth to clear the air regarding the suspicion that people close to the presidency “fixed” Mr Ruto. The Cord leader called for the truth regarding evidence provided by National Intelligence Service to the ICC, citing the confidential Exhibit 19 and 19A of the Waki Report.
“These are the exhibits that were compiled by then Director General of NIS as evidence against Ruto and other ODM members.
“The president must now make these exhibits public if he is serious about truth and reconciliation,” Mr Odinga said.
He also called for the police to open up regarding their operations during the post-election period, and how they ended up shooting the 500 declared people. Mr Odinga said Kenyans “need to know the exact number of people the police shot.”
“Most critically,” he said, “the police must answer the yet unanswered question of what happened to the over 1000 Kalenjin youths that went missing during and after the post-election violence.”
Mr Odinga called for reconciliation amongst Kenyan communities: “We can’t sweep these realities under the carpet and move on. We must bring people together to talk and make peace. To help reconcile the communities, Mr Odinga proposed the setting up of “Baraza Courts” in villages that were affected by the violence.
“Let people come together and say what they did, why and on whose instructions. It is never too late to pursue truth and reconciliation,” he said. Mr Odinga also said President Kenyatta must publish the list of all people who died, were injured or displaced during the violence, as well what reparations have been offered by the government.
