President Uhuru Kenyatta’s convoy snakes through Eastlands on his arrival from the Hague/MIKE KARIUKI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 9 – President Uhuru Kenyatta returned from The Hague on Thursday with a message that the court imagined it would put him in a fix by issuing summons which he would defy.
Defiance of the summons would have meant the court could place a warrant for his arrest, but President Kenyatta indicated that he beat them to it, when he ceded power to William Ruto to enable him to attend the court session as a private citizen.
“We do not fear those people. They thought that they would summon me there and then I refuse to go. We told them that we will go but if you think that Kenya as a country is going there, you are mistaken since Kenya has remained with William Ruto as the leader,” he declared.
The Head of State who made eight stops and addressed crowds along city streets as he made his way from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, said the solution to all problems facing the country cannot be found anywhere else but in Kenya.
“There are others who would want to see our country divided along tribal or religious lines so that they may be able to split us. We are saying that the important thing is our unity. This unity is what holds us together and helps us deal with the problems that we face and build our nation,” he said.
Upon arrival at JKIA, he expressed confidence in his deputy Ruto, who was Acting President in his absence.
“We do not have that fear that others may have since we are all united. Even when we were there at The Hague didn’t His Excellency William Ruto lead the nation? We will not move back as the Kenyan nation. We will always move forward since we do not want any division, we want everyone to be united,” he explained.
His procession passed through Outer Ring Road, headed to Jogoo Road, Haile Selassie Avenue through to Harambee House where hundreds of Kenyans were waiting to receive him.
During the status conference at The Hague, Kenyatta did not make any statement in court where he was represented by his lawyers who urged the judges to terminate the case due to lack of evidence.
Calls for Kenyans to unite and shun political and ethnic divisions became a mantra when he addressed Kenyans in the eight stops.
Jubilant crowds of people some dressed in full colours of the president’s party – The National Alliance and others dressed in traditional attires lined up the roads from JKIA, throughout to Harambee House, repeating a common chorus of the day; si uchawi ni maombi (it wasn’t witchcraft but prayers).
“You know it is because we have been praying… that is why he went there and he came back. We are happy to see our president and we pray he can be able to concentrate on the work we elected him to do,” Lemaiyan Mejo who had travelled from Kajiado explained.
Kenyatta was accompanied various leaders who stayed with him until the end of the procession at around 1pm.
Kenyatta further told the crowds of people that he decided to go to The Hague as an individual to ensure he does not subject the sovereignty of Kenya to any other jurisdiction.
He explained to them that he invoked Article 147(3) of the Constitution, and appointed the Deputy President as Acting President while he attended the status conference at The Hague, in the Netherlands.
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