Bill Clinton and Cherera 4: A Tale of two tribunals

In 1999, the world was bracing for the inevitable. There was a talk of a millennium bug - that predicted all computers would crash, sending the world's financial markets, air transport, and so much more into the unknown. 

Across the Atlantic, far from home, Bill Clinton was being acquitted by the US Senate from any wrongdoing in the case against Monica Lewinsky. 

In this Clinton's case, on the two counts tabled in the Senate, the case neither received the necessary two-thirds majority vote of the senators present for conviction and removal from office - in this instance 67 members. 

On Article 1, 45 senators voted to convict, while 55 voted for acquittal. On Article 2, 50 senators voted to convict while 50 voted for acquittal. Clinton remained in office for the remainder of his second term.

Last year, President William Ruto formed a tribunal to investigate the conduct of ex-IEBC vice chairperson Juliana Cherera, alongside former commissioners Justus Nyang'aya, Francis Wanderi and Irene Masit (suspended).

As commissioners, they disowned the presidential results of the August 9 election announced by Chairman Wafula Chebukati, terming them 'opaque.'

And this is the Tale of Two Tribunals.

Anyone who cares on the latter, would like to see an outcome of the sittings that is just and meant for posterity. 

The tribunal led by Appellate Judge Aggrey Muchelule has a lot to help Kenyans feel they are not making one step forward and two steps backwards. An egg should not be seen dripping down his face on each of the chairs.

Telling the truth where it's not needed appears to be a hindrance to justice… Not that the various parties in this tribunal are unaware of the standing orders of the committee and tribunal, but the demeanor of the of the suspect outcome.

The chair must not send facial and body language that give away the pitching point.

Apparently, if one is not akin to the soft communication skills, the public can almost guess how it will all go. It's like hiding a knife to cut a cake with the disillusionment that no one knows where the knife will pass through the cake!

We must not look to be partisan through our engagement with the various parties as chairpersons. If as an arbiter, one cannot hide the openly lopsided wordings used when addressing the attorneys of the two parties, then at least don't let it show on your face.

The novel, A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens, which was set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution, depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same period. Charles Darnay - A French aristocrat.

While violent or unmistakably skewed language did inspire violent action in the name of revolution, the hopeful language of equality celebrated in the writing of the enlightenment society was extremely conservative and patriarchal. This is not what our arbiters should aspire to be. At least not in any public appointed bodies meant to sanitize our institutions; parliamentary, judicial or otherwise... 

In A Tale of Two Cities, the social aspects are very prevalent. The Reign of Terror causes the people to be thirsty for blood. 

Once again, Madame Defarge shows this in the novel, because she wants revenge, and doesn’t care if innocent people have to die because of it. "Tell the Wind and the Fire where to stop; not me!” says Defarge. 

She and the other people of France are full of vengeance. People in France begin to flee to England for help. 

The time setting of the novel is in 1775, England and France are undergoing a period of social cataclysm and mayhem. The forces that are advancing to revolution in France are colliding with a circle of people in England, causing their futures to be irreversibly intertwined. 

Many of the characters fight internal struggles as well as battling hardships that originate from the revolution. 

This is the very struggle many Kenyans are facing this very day; every single day. A struggle with what to believe and how to learn to live with a society that is refusing to respond. 

There was an idea called the “Cult of Domesticity” that believed that a woman’s identity should consist of piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness manifested a lot in the novel. This, while being a matter of debate, depending on which side you are sitting, must not inform our progressive society. 

However, this era saw the birth and rise of political and social movements such as socialism, liberalism, and organised feminism. Because of the rapid changes that occurred during the Victorian Era, it brought out rapid changes in literature. And in no measure, we can say it shaped modern Europe as we know it today.

In the Clinton Senate trial, the charges for which he was impeached stemmed from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Paula Jones. 

During pre-trial discovery in the lawsuit, Clinton gave testimony denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The world was sitting on the edge of her seat, waiting to see whether justice would be served.

In his words, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) said, "When you have a president that in my opinion has cheated on his wife, he will cheat on the American people. When you have a president that can't tell the truth about his mistakes and own up to them, he won't be able to tell the truth to the American people. And he hasn't." 

This is what we should learn from history.

That a people, who are determined to build a more stable union, especially now that the reunification of East Africa as a Federation is in our lips, must stand and seem to be counted.

Nicholas Mokua is a poet and educator