It was expected, the president of Kenya who is charged with crimes against humanity would prefer to stay away from the International Criminal Court.
President Kenyatta’s lawyers have formally applied to the ICC to have him attend the October 2014 status conference via video link, intelligence sources report.
President Kenyatta will not attend the October status conference in person as ordered by the court rather will opt a video link.
The request to appear via video link besides to push the date of the status conference to 9th of October is necessitated by the East African Community Northern Corridor Infrastructure Summit in Kampala, Uganda on October 8 and Uganda’s independence day on October 9.
President Kenyatta is the chairman of the Heads of State of the East African Community, hence is due to attend the Northern Corridor Infrastructure Summit which is often attended by the regional Heads of State.
The meeting was planned before the ICC judges gave the October 8th Status conference orders.
What are the possible outcomes? Our role is merely to identify threats and analyze scenarios with the objective of mitigating risks.
Kenyatta may have his application granted. Indeed, the plan is to have him least bothered by the case. It is in the interests of many masters of the ICC that Kenyatta now gets a reprieve.
The global security problem currently affecting the world has far reaching ramifications and powerful countries whose role in curbing insecurity and contributing to the global economy must be allowed to be at the moment. Kenya is one of these countries.
However, Kenyatta’s wish maybe refused. This scenario is unlikely, but the probability ratio poses a threat.
The OTP is indeed very worried and at the same time embarrassed by its shoddy work in Kenya. OTP as such is psychologically dangerous. Fatou Bensouda is not likely to succeed in Kenya but she will attempt to equally embarrass the president.
She will create scenarios or orchestrate events that can shape technicalities which will tie President Kenyatta and the ICC burden at the hip.
Bensouda hopes to drag with Kenyatta for as long as she can since that’s her way of maintaining relevance. Once the global perspective on her office starts to get positive review, she may dismiss the case altogether but not when the current negative review remains.
