Will the African Union ever speak for Africans?
In May 2013, the African Union (AU) requested the ICC to have the cases against President Uhuru and Mr. Ruto tried in Kenya. There was another request to the President of the ICC to have Kenya pursue these cases. The fact that the court went on to begin the trials was seen as a snub of the Africa opinion. Unfortunately, few Kenyans remember the ICC intervention was because of lack of confidence in the judiciary. Though in true Kenyan fashion, a new lot of elected officials voted to have Kenya withdraw its membership from the international court. Few hardly pause and think the Rome Statute is enshrined in our 2010 constitution. As Kenyans we entrusted justice with the highest court in the world after failing to find it at home.
Moreover, for the longest time there was overwhelming support across the country for the ICC process. Now support is but a whimper because the two suspects conducted a deft media campaign to discredit the ICC and their supporters. Have we forgotten how our country was almost torn to shreds, when our siasa mbaya took over our sensibilities in 2007-2008 Post Election Violence (PEV)? The victims of the violence suffered because of domestic siasa mbaya, but they are again suffering continental siasa mbaya at the hands of the AU. I used to be a big fan of the AU. I dreamt of visiting its headquarters in Addis Ababa if I was even given the chance to visit Ethiopia; and I realized that dream in 2010, when I was sent to Addis Ababa to cover the AU Heads of State summit. I was extremely excited because I felt an overwhelming sense of pride covering my continent. However, the luster of being at the summit quickly wore off. This was the year the of the Arab Spring. Tunisia and Egypt were on the boil. The press in Addis and the rest of the world were waiting for the AU to say something on the uprising. But getting comments from the then AU Chairman Jean Ping was akin to pulling one’s teeth. Egypt was burning, we cried, and yet Africa’s highest political body was mum!
By the end of the summit, a few sad truths had dawned on me: the AU was impotent when it came to dealing with the politics of its member states; the AU was still very much the OAU - a club of dinosaurs who were still fighting phantom colonialists and not the maladies that plague this continent; and that the AU was not interested in defending the Africans it claims to stand for! I left Addis dejected, disappointed and disillusioned by the AU because it failed to help entrench constitutionalism, peace and democracy among its member countries. On the contrary, the AU recently had time to call a summit to discuss its relations with the ICC. I found AU’s calling of an extraordinary summit to discuss ICC’s involvement in Africa when other more significantly urgent issues bedevil the continent reprehensible.
There was no mention of the victims of the PEV in Kenya, the quandary in Central Africa Republic, the escalating conflicts in the DR Congo and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism that threatened civil liberties and development. Nothing was said to express sympathy for the families of the hundreds of Africans who had just died trying to reach the shores of Europe in the same week. What shoulder of support was offered? Yet, the AU found the time to go onto a soap-box and unleash anti -ICC speeches and calling for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto not to attend their trials in the Hague. Was this a continental nod to impunity?
Many Africans who fight daily poverty, know that in their own national judicial systems, they cannot afford justice. Justice seems to be only for the rich and powerful. Momentarily, the ICC provided an opportunity for the rich and powerful to be held accountable. But the AU is thwarting that effort. The AU has offered no solutions to dealing with the injustices meted out by the continent’s ruling class. Deep down we want to believe that Goliath in his resplendent armor can be brought down by a simple sling of truth. Sadly, that doesn’t feel like the case anymore. The AU continues to be a club for Africa’s political elite; where regular Africans aren’t allowed to tread.
Kevin Mwachiro is a former broadcaster at the BBC and now works for an international development agency in Nairobi.
