RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Analysis: Kenyatta escapes the ICC, and shows others how it's done

Kwabena

Mmo neka, well-said!! Please, please count me among the academics who, while not forgetting the past, believe that damage done to Africans by current and past politicians far exceeds whatever colonialism, slavery, and the various manifestations have done. Of what value is independence,( ‘freedom’, democracy, etc.) if, consistently, year after year, 90 percent of Africans lack access to the basics of life: water, affordable healthcare and education?

There was a time I almost stopped participating in this forum because I thought alternative voices about the role of the past in shaping Africa’s future were being silenced by people who place excessive weight on slavery, colonialism, the white- man –did- it- to- us group. Lord, how refreshing it is to know that there are others like you, Kwabena, who want to revisit the debate and look for alternative barriers to Africa’s development, factors that are mainly endogenous.

Best

Kwaku

Chicago

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Akurang-Parry, Kwabena
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 10:19 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Analysis: Kenyatta escapes the ICC, and shows others how it's done

Moses:

You are very right: I have washed our dirty and decaying national kente in public. Yes, I am going to focus on contemporary Ghana/Africa with an activist voice. We don't have to forget the past - slavery, colonialism, and all - but the present is equally, if not more, important than the past, especially considering that our agencies can shape the present. In the past three years, I have used a pen-name to author about 350 poems on Ghanaweb and other social media sites on Ghana. I have decided to take ownership of my work and voice by using my real name. I know very well that I will be a "wanted" man, but it is better than writing about colonialism. The poems attack public officials, heads of state, institutions, etc. that have become the vehicles of corruption and its diverse siblings. Today, we have oil in addition to our time-tested gold, diamond, bauxite, timber, cocoa, human capital, etc., yet Ghana is in a sorry, deplorable state more than it had been since the beginning of history, so to speak.

Kwabena

From:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Moses Ebe Ochonu [meochonu@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 9:04 AM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Analysis: Kenyatta escapes the ICC, and shows others how it's done

Kwabena,

And I say Halleluyah! Your post has made my day! You have demonstrated the pragmatism and flexibility of a true scholar, one who is not afraid to shift from one paradigm to another in the face of compelling evidence or a higher commitment. It takes real courage to do that. You've shown that your ultimate commitment is to Africa's/Ghana's long-suffering and brutalized people, and that this commitment trumps your sympathy for explanatory systems that put colonialism and slavery at their forefront.

I remember when you used to scold us Nigerians for washing our proverbial dirty linens in the public, for self-denigrating, and for giving ammo to the racists who peddle the vocabulary of Africa/Nigeria as a dysfunctional, corrupt, and decaying milieu. We used to tell you then, I recall, that the danger posed to our people by these postcolonial demons outweigh that posed by Western racist traducers of Africa/Nigeria, and that, all things considered, the risk of exposing or even sensationalizing our problems along with the foibles of the postcolonial ruling classes pales in comparison to the risk of not speaking out about the escalating predation of these parasitic groups.

I knew all along that you were (re)evaluating things. It fills me with joy that you've come to the same conclusion as some of did sometime ago. Yes, in our scholarly engagements we can continue to discuss the ravages of colonization and slavery, but when it comes to accounting for the postcolonial malaise, slavery and colonialism no longer suffice as explanations, and we must, as you say, hold our rulers responsible for their larceny, impunity, and incompetence. Privileging colonialism and slavery in these discussions of postcolonial political accountability only gives comfort to the "pen robbers," deflecting culpability that should rightly be assigned to these destroyers. I hope our good friend, Ken, with whom I have discussed and debated this issue, would come to the same conclusion as you.

On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 10:16 PM, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena <KAParr@ship.edu> wrote:

I can't speak to the Kenyan situation! But who cares if the devil would come to Ghana and eliminate our postcolonial predators and pen-armed robbers we call democratic leaders. A party goon is paid almost 50 million dollars for no work done. His theatrical court appearances to account for the biggest theft in postcolonial Ghana have become episodic and evanescent sustained by state prosecutors who fail to show up in court. The sad paradox is that poor people who steal three fingers of plantain to humble their hunger are put in jail for 10 years. And the courts do so with alacrity. Meanwhile in 2014 some primary schools are held under baobab trees. And meanwhile politicians are able to send their wards to schools overseas. Hospitals have become sites where people go to die. In some hospitals, bottled water and flash-lights are used for surgical operation. No wonder our mothers, sisters, and wives are dying during child-birth in our dilapidated hospitals. Power outages are as common and free as polluted oxygen across the decaying Korle Lagoon. Ghanaian thievery politicians have impoverished the masses to the extent that the latter chew their tongues as food instead of using them to protest. Time has come for us academics to forget about European slavery and colonialism: we must train our academic firepower on our postcolonial predators. In so many ways they are worse than the European imperialists. Yes, I am moving away from slavery and colonialism to "postcolonial slavery and local colonialisms."

Kwabena

From:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of FJKolapo [kolapof@uoguelph.ca]
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 8:16 PM
To:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Analysis: Kenyatta escapes the ICC, and shows others how it's done

so Professors Mbaku and Ogungbemi, which way do we go and how do we determine its the better way? For between the two positions that you two represent here, i guess the point that sticks out is to determine which is more strategically important and which is more urgent and how or whether to balance them against one another: i.e., between stability, peace, law and order, at some cost to some semblance of justice and equity - but with the hope that local mechanisms of justice will eventually come into its own and be able to tackle local African political elite's impunity and criminality; and on the other hand, the use of regional, continental and international resources and law to curb local elite's impunity and criminal behavior at the possible (temporary?) cost of institutional weakness and undermining of capacity, as well as possible danger of inflaming new ethnic tension and violence from which it is mostly the ordinary people that will suffer if a siting African president is convicted by the IOC.

Its remains a terrible shame that it should be so difficult and generally perilous to remove or replace most of Africa's rulers, whether democratically or not.

From: "John Mbaku" <jmbaku@weber.edu>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 5:07:25 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Analysis: Kenyatta escapes the ICC, and shows others how it's done

I just recently returned from Kenya. Despite its multifarious problems, Kenya is still freer than a lot of African countries. I do not have to take your word; I have experienced Kenya and many other African countries for myself. I am getting ready to go to Kenya again!

On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 12:26 PM, Segun Ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:

Mbaku,

Do you still live in Kenya or you are living abroad? I have told you a country where I had lived and worked.

It is left for you to believe what I have said or not. But it is a fact.

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 10, 2014, at 15:07, John Mbaku <jmbaku@weber.edu> wrote:

Dear Según:

Sorry, but I am not familiar with the Kenya you are talking about here. It is not the Kenya that I know.

On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 8:59 AM, Segun Ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:
From my little knowledge of Kenya, I think Owino is right by saying that political leaders cannot be brought to justice in Kenya. It will never happen for now. People are not free to express themselves as they like. In a society where one cannot openly challenge those in power and make them accountable to the electorate, you cannot have a judicial system that will dispense justice as it ought to be.
Kenyans live in fear and anyone who dare the political elite in power does it at his own risk. And that is the truth.
Segun Ogungbemi.

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 7, 2014, at 3:48, Meshack Owino <meshack.owino@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Prof. Mbaku,

You say that Uhuru Kenyatta should be accountable to the people of Kenya and not the ICC, but, isn't it a fact that it is the Kenyan people, through their representatives in parliament, that took the post-election violence cases to the ICC? Think about the phrase, "Don't be Vague, Go to the Hague," and where it came from. That phrase was coined by Kenyans' representatives in parliament as they overwhelmingly voted to hand over Kenya's post-election violence cases to the ICC.

What this means is that it is Kenyans who went to the ICC. It has become common for critics to bash the ICC for all sorts of reasons, but, when it comes to the ICC and the Kenyan cases, let us, at the very least, acknowledge one incontrovertible fact: Kenya's post-election violence cases were taken to the ICC by Kenya and Kenyans. It is Kenya that went to the ICC; the ICC never came to Kenya.

Secondly, you are very right when you suggest that African countries should reconstruct and reconstitute their legal and judicial systems to handle the prosecution of cases committed within their borders. That is a good suggestion. However, it is a suggestion that can only work in a few African countries --- perhaps, to some extent, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, and a few others, but, it can never work in Kenya. Indeed, it can't work in Gambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, just to mention a few.

Prof. Mbaku, let us be realistic. Do you think that, short of a revolution, you can take Yoweri Museveni, Yahya Jameh, Robert Mugabe, Paul Kagama, and Uhuru Kenyatta, to name a few, to court in their respective countries, and live to tell the tale? Just tell me, yes or no, Prof. Mbaku.

Indeed, just look at the witnesses in Uhuru Kenyatta's ICC case. Where are they? Answer: dead, hiding, or living in fear. Kenya's banks where Uhuru Kenyatta used to bank his money have "refused" to hand over Uhuru Kenyatta's financial records to the ICC. Guess, why. The telephone companies in Kenya have also been "unable to locate" to Uhuru Kenyatta's telephone records for the period when the post-election violence broke out. Again, your guess as to why is as good as mine.

Therefore, your suggestion about overhauling Kenya's judicial system, good as it is, is nevertheless unrealistic and unworkable for the foreseeable future in Kenya. I am sorry to say it, but that is just as it is. The rich, the wealthy and the powerful will never allow for the creation of a strong and independent judicial system in Kenya capable of prosecuting cases without fear or favor. Your suggestion is unrealistic as far as Kenya is concerned. It won't work in Kenya. Other countries, may be; Kenya, no. Short of a revolution, the rich and powerful will not allow for the overhauling of Kenya's judicial system, and for the establishment of a strong and independent judiciary in Kenya.

Indeed, when you made this very suggestion a few days ago, I responded to you by saying that it was unrealistic because Kenya's history is already littered with cases of assassinations and suspicious deaths --- from that of Pio Gama Pinto to Tom Mboya to JM Kariuki to Dr. Robert Ouko to Alexander Muge, to name just a few --- that have not been resolved to this date. Economic crimes that have cost Kenya billions of shillings in taxpayer money have not ben prosecuted to this date. Victims of assassinations and their families are still waiting to this day for justice for crimes that, mind you, were committed, in some cases, almost fifty years ago!!! Kenya's treasury is still waiting for the return of billions of shillings stolen from it, and for the prosecution of the rich and the powerful who stole the money.

Put simply, there is not a single case -- criminal, economic, or otherwise, for which the powerful, the wealthy, and the rich in Kenya are serving jail-time. None. That is why I think that your prescription for a home-grown judicial system is unrealistic.

Finally, let me say this. The victims and the families of the victims of the post-election violence in Kenya need justice and deserve justice. I don't think they care where justice comes from as long as they get justice.

Telling these victims to wait until Kenya's judicial system is overhauled, reconstituted, and reconstructed for them to get justice in a country that has never seen the prosecution of even one single rich, wealthy, and powerful Kenyan for any crime is like telling them to wait for manna to fall from the sky because the rich, the wealthy and the powerful in Kenya will never allow for the overhauling, reconstitution, and reconstruction of a judicial system capable of prosecuting cases to their logical conclusion.

Meshack Owino.
------------------------
____________________
Meshack Owino, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor of History,
Department of History, RT 1319,
Cleveland State University,
2121 Euclid Avenue,
Cleveland, OH 44115,
USA.

Tel. 216-523-7264.
Fax. 216-687-5592.
E-mail Address: meshack.owino@yahoo.com; m.owino@csuohio.edu

From: John Mbaku <jmbaku@weber.edu>
To:"usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 6, 2014 3:23 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Analysis: Kenyatta escapes the ICC, and shows others how it's done

President Kenyatta should be accountable to the people of Kenya and not the ICC. Hence, it is the Kenya legal system that should provide the victims of the post-2007 elections justice and not the ICC. That said, it is true that present Kenya legal and judicial institutions are either unwilling or unable to administer the necessary justice. Nevertheless, the solution to this quagmire should not be the outsourcing of justice to the ICC. Instead, Kenyans (and perhaps, with external assistance--from the AU, and others) should try to reconstruct and reconstitute their domestic legal and judicial system to enhance its ability to effectively and fully undertake the necessary prosecution of individuals accused of crimes committed within the country's borders. It is the constitutionally-mandated function of a government to deliver justice to its citizens and do so in a fair and judicious manner. Outsourcing justice to the ICC, no matter how attractive that option may appear at this point in time, will not serve the long-term interests of Kenyans.

On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 9:39 AM, Olu Abejide <mystock@ymail.com> wrote:
’s all over bar the shouting, and a few more tedious court proceedings. Unless something drastic changes, Uhuru Kenyatta will not face trial at the International Criminal Court – and the thousands of victims of Kenya’s 2007/2008 post-election violence will be denied their chance to see justice done.
Wednesday was supposed to be the first day of his trial, in which he would defend himself against charges of indirect complicity in crimes against humanity for his alleged role in inciting, organising and funding the violence. It was also going to be a milestone in international justice: the first time that a sitting head of state faced an international court on charges of this severity.
But Kenyatta didn’t show. He didn’t need to. The prosecution case had already unravelled to such an extent that instead of arguing for and against his innocence, the lawyers present were squabbling about whether the case should go ahead at all. There was one thing they could all agree on, however: with the current collection of evidence, there’s no way that Kenyatta’s guilt can be proved.Read More
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JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
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JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
J.D. (Law), Ph.D. (Economics)
Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law
Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Attorney & Counselor at Law (Licensed in Utah)
Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics & Willard L. Eccles Professor of Economics and John S. Hinckley Fellow
Department of Economics
Weber State University
3807 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-3807, USA
(801) 626-7442 Phone
(801) 626-7423 Fax
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JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
J.D. (Law), Ph.D. (Economics)
Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law
Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Attorney & Counselor at Law (Licensed in Utah)
Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics & Willard L. Eccles Professor of Economics and John S. Hinckley Fellow
Department of Economics
Weber State University
3807 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-3807, USA
(801) 626-7442 Phone
(801) 626-7423 Fax

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There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.

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RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Analysis: Kenyatta escapes the ICC, and shows others how it's done

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