Sooner is better than later at ICC

PRIME Minister Raila Odinga has told foreign correspondents that he supports the ICC trials starting after March 2013. This would give presidential aspirants Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto time to participate in the presidential elections next year.

On Tuesday there was a divergence of opinion between the lawyers of former Civil Service boss Francis Muthaura and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta. Muthaura favoured a September start date for the trial while Uhuru preferred March like Ruto. The ICC Chief Prosecutor has indicated that he is comfortable with March but the judges said that they had expected an earlier start date.

Voting for a presidential candidate will be complicated if he has to go the Hague immediately after the election. It would be even worse if a candidate came top or second in the first round but had to drop out of the second round to go to the Hague.

On balance, it would be better if the trial starts sooner as Muthaura suggested. The trials are expected to take over a year but if Uhuru and Ruto were lucky, they might just take a few months. That would give them the chance to freely contest in March 2013.

Quote of the day: "Actions are visible, though motives are secret." - Samuel Johnson published the first edition of his dictionary on June 14, 1755.