In his strongest condemnation yet, Cord leader Raila Odinga yesterday said President Uhuru Kenyatta should have been jailed during his trial by the ICC for crimes against humanity in the 2007-08 post-election violence.
The former Prime Minister said all other major ICC suspects have been detained at The Hague before and during their trials. He cited former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, former DRC Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, former LRA chief Dominic Ongwen, among others.
Charges against Uhuru were dropped on December 5, 2014.
“He was accused of weighty charges. He was allowed to vie for President in 2013. Although he was charged with serious crimes against humanity, he was allowed to come home because of mercy,” Raila said.
He addressed the Wiper National Governing Council meeting at Kasarani indoor arena and the packed crowd responded with cheers to his accusations against Jubilee.
More than 3,000 delegates endorsed Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka as its presidential standard bearer.
“In Kenya a person accused of murder cannot run for MP, but ICC forgave him. There is no withdrawal from the ICC," Raila told a wiper National governing council meeting at Kasarani indoor arena.
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On Jamhuri Day, President Kenyatta said Kenya must again consider withdrawing from the ICC because the tribunal has not reformed and targets Africans.
The decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute does not belong to the President, Raila said.
“Kenya will not withdraw from the ICC whether Uhuru and his folks like it or not,” the Cord leader said.
Raila said Uhuru’s warning to "imaginary foreign financier" seeking his defeat was an indication of his panic over a formidable a united opposition ahead of 2017 poll.s
“Jubilee has panicked and is now warning imaginary foreigners and giving illegal decrees. Kenyans, not foreigners, want a regime change and they will get it. Money will not stop them," the ODM chief said.
The President accused some donors, good-governance organisations and countries he did not name of seeking regime change in Kenya.
Raila said Jubilee’s worship of money and power is unstoppable because of a "foolish belief that money will keep them in power for eternity.” He appeared to liken it to a Satanic desire.
He said Jubilee’s hope that Cord would disintegrate immediately the coalition "lost" in 2017 was misguided as ODM, Wiper and Ford Kenya have become stronger and more united.
Raila and his opposition colleagues alleged an elaborate scheme by President Kenyatta to reject defeat in next year’s polls by blackmailing, blaming and threatening the international community.
They said such a plot aims to perpetuate and entrench impunity in a fragile country heading into the most bitterly contested election ever.
Selection of Musyoka heaps pressure on a re-engineered opposition to select a single presidential candidate among several big contenders.
Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and his Kitui counterpart Julius Malombe attended the event.
ANC's Musalia Mudavadi, who is pushing for the National Super Alliance to face Uhuru, said NASA is the most formidable force to defeat the ‘corrupt’ Jubilee regime.
“NASA is the future for all of us, this is the bet that will send Jubilee home,” he said.
Making an analogy of a man searching for shelter from the rain, he said, “I thought that if I wanted to be safe, I had to look for Wiper. I have landed and believe I won't be rained upon.
The party held its NDC, the high-level decision making organ, to endorse Kalonzo’s 2017 presidential bid as calls for a unified opposition front have gathered momentum.
Delegates rallied the opposition to back Kalonzo as the best candidate defeat Jubilee.
Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama, told the delegates, "For us, it doesn’t matter who will be the presidential flag bearer. All we want to see is that Uhuru and Ruto go home to where they belong.”
The fierce critic of Jubilee sensationally claimed the JP is plotting to rig the the election and reject the outcome if it loses.
He said Uhuru’s calls for renewed consideration of withdrawal form the ICC are meant to ensure the ICC doesn't hold Jubilee to account for the "planned bloodshed".
“They have planned not to accept defeat and to use the police to cause bloodshed, Kenya will not withdraw from the ICC. Kenyans are tired of corruption and we will not accept theft of public funds,” the Machakos senator said.
Siaya senator James Orengo, said it was not about Cord getting the presidency, "but what we do with the presidency."
Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar, Wiper secretary general, said a wave of electoral change in Africa will be replicated in Kenya at the polls.