KALONZO SPEAKS PROPHETICALLY OF THE AFRICAN INDEPENDENT CRIMINAL COURT (AICC)

As largely expected, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka`s shuttle diplomacy has hit a brick wall. He has no one to blame but himself. His diplo-babble reeked of hubris and blackmail. At one time, Kalonzo haughtily told the International Community that the African states will pull out of the ICC en-masse and form their own court in the event that Kenya`s bid for a deferral is rejected. He even had a name for the new court-The African International Criminal Court (AICC). Admittedly, this was a huge diplomatic gaffe. It is this blackmail that angered the International Community. Subsequently, Kenya`s request for a deferral was presumed dead on arrival. But that is water under the bridge.

What is of concern now is whether Kenya is going to make good its threat. In the unlikely event that it does, how radically different will the AICC be from ICC? Will it lead to the expansion of the democratic space in Africa or will it whittle down the gains so far made? Will it draw its membership from all African states or will it be a preserve of only a few rogue African states?

In my estimation, AICC will be a tool that will pamper the egos of the few remaining African dictators. This means that AICC, unlike ICC, will not ignore Africa`s raison d'être nor undermine Africa`s dignity or sovereignty.

Secondly, it (AICC) must go slow in situations where the incumbents blatantly refuse to hand over power to the real winners of the presidential elections. This will give humble time to the incumbents to look for homegrown solutions (read power sharing). Besides, AICC will ensure that neither the incumbents nor their protégés are subjected to warrants of arrest since that would be undermining African sovereignty, solidarity and African peace and security.”

Thirdly, and most importantly, cases will be presided over by judges who will be appointees of the likes of President Robert Mugabe, Meles Zenawi, Gbagbo Gadhafi among others. Unlike the ICC judges (whose names are more difficult to pronounce than the most common tongue twisters and whose culture is far removed from that of Africans), the AICC judges will no doubt have an unrivalled wealth of knowledge and experience in Africa`s political philosophy. African Heads of States will thus hastily tell the Alassane Ouattara and Morgan Tsvangirai`s of Africa to seek for justice at the AICC knowing very well that the latter will increasingly work at shielding them and their protégés from accusations of election malpractices, prosecution for crimes against humanity or even genocide.

Fourthly, African heads of states will denounce any foreign intervention on the pretext that they are sovereign states. They will not hesitate to flaunt their sovereignty in defiance of the Rome Statute.

Fifthly, with AICC in place, African Heads of State will have no problem working at cross-purposes with the objectives of democracy. In their estimation, democracy must be tempered with a bit of autocracy since; Africans are like babies whose milk teeth cannot chew hard stuff like democracy.

From the foregoing, AICC (euphemistically referred to us African Independent Club of Conmen) will definitely lead to increased human rights violations in the continent since justice will be the very least of its concerns. Simply put, AICC will be the washing powder for the merchants of doom. I have a hunch that Kalonzo himself does not believe in this creature. It is for this reason that I implore him to stop this dangerous cult of opportunism, double-talk and chicanery.