Finally, the Envelope is Gone

Gone with the wind to the desk of Moreno O'Campo. Indeed it is gone and the rest is O'Campo's.
Yes finally, the former UN Chief and peace negotiator in post poll violence in Kenya Dr. Koffi Annan has ultimately put the case to rest.
He has finally handed over Kenya's Pandora's Box to the International Criminal Court, the land of teeth gnashing and groaning.
A Twist of Fate
This perhaps partially closes the chapter of horse trading, threats, divided loyalty and anguish among many a politician in the Kenyan arena where for the last ten months or so politicians have been engaged in war of words and shifting loyalties as others seemed to have used the envelop to fight their perceived political enemies.
In the public domain also there has been a lot of speculation as to whose name would be in the list. This development seems to have paved way for Kangaroo Courts where politicians of various shades have been handed very tough judgments by members of the public who in one way or the other were forced to come up with tentative measures in place of ICC or a local tribunal.
A Hope for Solace
Recently there have been very interesting moves in the country regarding this envelope. Bare a week ago, a team of ministers headed by the Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo sojourned to O'Campo's office in the Hague to discuss possible options of dealing with the menace of the post poll violence. This was occasioned by the tough and seemingly common stand taken by most members of parliament to reject a local tribunal and hand the envelop to ICC. This move seems not to have sank well with the two leaders of the coalition-PM and President and also Koffi Annan who has called for a local tribunal as well.
Twelve Months More...
Interestingly, the Prosecutor at ICC gave Kenya another grace period of twelve months to come up with a panacea which in the mind of the government included a third option of setting up a UN backed Special Tribunal in a different country.
Today(July 8, 2009), the chief negotiator has thrown the spanner into the works and further complicated the whole issue. Many questions are bound to resurface now and indeed those questions are fundamental: Did the Prosecutor at ICC overlook Annan's ultimatum? Was the ICC obliged to go by Annan's ultimatum? Could this be suggestive then of a futile effort by Koffi Annan to hand over the envelop to a man who has given suspects more leeway?

Credibility Test
It is also worth noting that ICC is facing a great credibility test from African leaders. A few days ago, the African Union (AU) unanimously agreed not to hand over the Sudanese leader Omar Elbashir whom a warrant of arrest had been issued against by the International Court some time last year.
From the Kenyan front, the air is full of suspense more than ever before regarding the envelop. It is in this breath that President Mwai Kibaki has today called an impromptu cabinet meeting to chart the way forward.

No reprieve yet
The president and the Prime Minister had been exonerated by the Waki Report which investigated the post election violence and subsequently prepared the envelop. Against this backdrop, it is imperative to note that the Rome Statute, which created ICC provides for prosecution of not only those directly involved but also those who abated and more importantly those who neglected responsibility of averting the crime, read:

In the case of civilian superiors, a superiors’ inadvertently negligent disregard of information indicating that a crime of their subordinates is impending does not suffice for their responsibility. Therefore, it is their “conscious disregard” of such information (recklessness) that the Rome Statute sets as the lower limit of their responsibility. This means that according to the Rome Statute, a superior can be held responsible on the basis of his negligence for an intentional crime or even for a crime which requires coloured intent (dolus coloratus, such as in case of genocide from the article 6 of the Rome Statute). Article 28 b (i-iii)

Like more than never before, the reality of joining the ranks of other sixteen African leaders and politicians in the ICC list is a reality.
The proverbial Sword of Damocles once again hangs precariously in the Houses of parliament, Cabinet offices and all corridors of power awaiting who to devour come a pronouncement from the Hague.