What about the post-election violence victims?

What about the post-election violence victims?

Many people are happily celebrating about the verdict given by judges in ICC. It’s true people have been praying for the Ocampo six where the list have been reducing for the last 7 years since the case started. When Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang were left in the list, it was seen as victimization to them.

The Ocampo six’s list is now clear and no one has been prosecuted 7 years down the line. This poses serious questions on who was guilty during the 2007-2008, who was exactly in the list of Ocampo which remained a secret to the Kenyan government, why has the case taken so long only to have no one prosecuted, how will the violence victims get their justice and compensation?

Ocampo’s list when he first came to Kenya to do investigations contained more than just six members. These members were never mentioned and they have been freely interacting and sending out comments on 2007-2008 post- election violence where they still vie for elections forgetting what they did back then.

It’s true as President Uhuru said that we should forget the past as Kenyans and move on with unity. The major hindrance to this is that there   are people still suffering some still got burns on their body where they can come out to the society because of the shame of appearing ugly and being stared.   

The function of ICC is to hear crimes committed by national offenders whose cases can’t be solved by local courts. I expected to see it deliver proper justice to post-election violence victims owing to the fact that it is an international court.

While some Kenyans are celebrating the verdict given on Tuesday, there are  other Kenyans who are still wounded by what happened in 2007. They lost their relatives, their loved ones, their properties and their value but nevertheless they have not been compensated.

The ICC prosecution apparently has failed to perform its duties effectively. I don’t really think it is helpful anymore even if it came in Kenya today and do investigations again. The whole thing would take the same route as the current one and justice for the victims will not be found.

Kenyans forget very fast and this is seen when politicians are giving out speeches in political rallies. The case of Moses Kuria for instance telling people to carry pangas in public was a serious hate speech. His case in court over this was overthrown so quickly and no action was taken against him to teach others like him a lesson.

George Aladwa is another example of a politician insighting Kenyans in public to claim the ‘seat’ by force. This is exactly what caused the 2007-2008 post-election violence. Going back to that in 2017 is not hard when politicians continue to insight  people and no action is taken against them.