The race to please al-Bashir

By Evelyn Kwamboka

The Government has bent over backwards to appease President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and assure him that he will not be arrested and spirited to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to answer charges of crimes against humanity.

Attorney General Githu Muigai has filed a case in the Court of Appeal seeking to overturn a High Court ruling that set off the storm, and an injunction to stop the execution in Kenya of any warrant of arrest against al-Bashir.

Among the reasons the Kenya is fighting save its diplomatic relations with Sudan is the fact that the country is the fifth largest buyer of Kenyan tea. It buys up to Sh200 million of the crop annually, Wetangula said.

Sudan also threatened to close its airspace to Kenyan flights and said it would throw out up to 1,500 Kenyans living in the country

Kenya also has investments worth billions in Sudan and the latter has sponsored up to 250 Kenyan students studying in Khartoum.

Muigai wants High Court Judge Nicholas Ombijah’s decision delivered few days ago suspended, pending the lodging and determination of the State’s intended appeal.

It filed the application barely a week after Chief Justice Willy Mutunga defended the judge by warning the Executive against trying to intimidate judicial officers, or undermining the independence of the Judiciary.

Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Thuita Mwangi has also sworn an affidavit in support of the Government’s intended appeal of the High Court ruling.

Justice Ombija’s ruling has drawn both support and condemnation from Members of Parliament (MPs) while human rights groups and civil society have attacked diplomatic efforts by Kenya to mollify al-Bashir.

Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula rushed to Khartoum early this week, to assure the Sudan leader that the court decision would be successfully challenged, a move seen as tantamount to predetermining the outcome of any intended appeal process, and a direct interference by the Executive arm of Government with the mandate of the Judiciary.

The Government’s reaction to Justice Ombija’s ruling is believed by many to have prompted the Chief Justice Mutunga to warning the Executive arm of Government to respect judges and stop interfering with the work of the Judiciary.

President al-Bashir initially suspended the Kenyan ambassador to Khartoum and recalled his envoy in Nairobi, but later rescinded the decision and gave Kenya a two-week ultimatum to withdraw the arrest warrant.

In the papers filed by Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Thuita Mwangi, through the Attorney General’s office, the Government informed the court that the ruling has created anxiety and threatened Kenya’s bilateral relations with Sudan.

The Standard