As the first three of the ‘Ocampo six’ began defending themselves against allegations of crimes against humanity last week, many Kenyans have high hopes that the International Criminal Court (ICC) process has opened a window of delivering justice for the 2008 post-election violence. By Judie Kaberia, Nairobi
There are those who feel the ICC will not offer any solution to the violence that left about 1,500 people dead, 350,000 others displaced and property worth millions of shillings destroyed. Despite these variations, there is a lot of interest in the proceedings as most Kenyans remain glued to their TV sets to monitor the confirmation of charges hearings that started on September 1 for MPs William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and Radio personality Joshua arap Sang. Most of the main TV stations in Kenya have altered their normal programming to relay live coverage of the proceedings at The Hague. PEV victims Gregory (not his real name) a victim of the violence who is now living in Kisumu after he was displaced from Eldoret says the proceedings at The Hague remind Kenyans of the prevailing ethnic strife in 2008. Gregory just walks out of a hall in the outskirts of Kisumu town where he has been following the hearings at The Hague with 20 others. He says, “These hearings are OK but I doubt h...