I am not talking about rigging. I'm talking about leaders who instigate their followers, through dog whistles, self-fulfilling prophesies, inflammatory language and so on, to kill Kenyans from other ethnic groups. Or they try to blackmail Kenyans into supporting their tribal hero by threatening violence.
These leaders can be handled at the ICC. They need to be locked up and handed to the international court just like they did with Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. Witnesses need to be protected.
If we had a president who was committed to using the Kenyan state to truly hand over suspects to the ICC it would happen.
This effort to demonize or discredit the ICC is a political game to shield certain leaders from justice. The ICC has teeth.
We need to get all the presidential candidates on record over this matter right now when they need votes from Kenyans. If a politician cannot make a commitment to work with the ICC you would be a fool to support or join him in a coalition.
How did the last ICC help? Nobody will fix Kenya's problem. Kenyans need to do it themselves. ICC is just a court of maybe 100 staff. PEV only happen in brazen rigging - I dont see any scenario where people just attack others. There has to be a trigger. The persons who can pull the trigger is Uhuru, Chebukati and Koome.
Those 3 should manage election very well. Uhuru should manage the transition. Chebukati should do a good job at IEBC. Koome should be ready to resolve any issue. She needs to ensure the court remains like Maraga left - independent and trustworthy.
It is not easy to do a political transition in Africa - and it needs to be managed very very carefully.
It has only happened once in Kenya - in 2002.